Persona: Waking Up
by BloodyNite316
Summary: It has been two months since the NYX incident. Everyone has moved on with their conscience clear, but fate has other plans. The path to awaken a slumbering soul at the ends of the world has begun. A new face and old allies along with both new and old enemies approaching. It is time to act. It is time to WAKE UP. Minato/Yukari, Protagonist/?.
1. Chapter00: The Meeting

**Chapter 00: The meeting**

14/11/10

Unknown location

Minato surveyed the area he has been pinned to for so long. Days, weeks, months have passed since that day. He did though live up to the end of the bargain to meet SEES at the rooftop during graduation. But that was the thing that pained him; he wished he could be with Yukari for a while longer. She was the one who held him as he passed away "peacefully" (Other than Aigis who was with him first).

He wished someone was here with him as the loneliness of having no one around was finally getting to him. He tried to shout out to the dark, murky, hazy night view and wished that at least someone could hear and respond to his cries but then remembered that it was his soul that was pinned to the cross and all that he could do was to just stare and think.

"**HELLO! IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE!?" **Minato thought out loud **"PLEASE RESPOND! TALK TO ME! ANYONE!?"**

"…**.Dammit…Is there really no one out here other than that monster Erebus."**

Minato cursed in his thoughts just as a large hand popped out of seemingly nowhere revealing the monstrous three headed beast he was just thinking about.

"**Aww hell no, just when I think you are done you pop back right out of nowhere! When will you just give up!"" Alright. Give me your worst!"**

"_**ENOUGH!"**_

The next thing Minato saw was a brilliant flash of light that engulfed the entire dark environment. When the light settled, Erebus was gone and he saw a God-given sight. There were two people in front of the door. One, a strange man wearing a butterfly mask making him oddly familiar given the fact he had never seen him before, and the other person…

" **E..E..ELIZABETH!?"** Minato was too stunned to even think straight. He had never seen the velvet room assistant ever since the 31 of January, the day of the final battle.

'That's him master. The boy or should I say **The Messiah**? ' Elizabeth introduced Minato to the Man. _"__**So, this is the boy"**_ the man replied.

"_**Allow me to introduce myself Mr Arisato, My name is Philemon, Observer of events"**_ The man greeted himself,_** "I am here on the difficult request of dear Elizabeth here to set you free from your chains you have been shackled to"**_. Minato's spirits lifted up at the prospect of being set free.

"_**The process will not be easy though. In order to free you, another has to suffer the trials of the wild card but this is necessary Mr Arisato, as the world needs another wild card to lead them to the truth"**_ said Philemon. _**"And thus, it begins with this"**_

Minato looked on as Philemon snapped his fingers. The air around his fingers flickered and wavered as the sound waves rippled. A contract materialised out of thin air and landed in his hands. Philemon then flipped open the contract and Minato realised that it was the same contract that Pharos/Ryoji made him sign when he stepped into the Iwatodai Dorm for the first time. _**"The individual that was selected for the wild card ability. It will start with him"**_ Philemon said showing the contract for Minato to read.

**I chooseth this fate of my own free will and will take responsibility for all of my actions:**

**SIGNED;**_**Yu Narukami**_


	2. Chapter01: The Arrival

**Chapter01: The Arrival**

15/4/10

**Japan Airport (9.30 PM)**

"Whoopie f-ing doo, in a few hours I will be living with my mom's cousin who is still working right now and can't pick me up from the airport. What kind of life do I lead!" I sighed. "Parent's tell me that their company posted them to another country and I get sent here to study and they notify me in the span of seven days, **SEVEN DAYS TO PACK EVERYTHING!"** I swore under my breath as I tried to recount the situation that I was caught up in.

I was born to a Chinese father and a Japanese mother in Singapore but most of my life was not spent there but in many other countries since both my parents were finance directors of their company and they were always on the move from one country to another because of their job. Thus every year, changing schools was status quo for me as I country hopped from one place to another. America, China, UK, Thailand, Japan, Australia just to name a few but, this is the second time I'm going to study in Japan.

As I recounted my entire childhood, I noticed a strange bunch of girls looking in my direction and giggling uncontrollably. "What are they looking at?" I flipped my hood over to cover my head and switched on my music player to listen to some music and prayed that they were not checking me out.

This was always a problem for me. Ever since young, I always had girls staring at me, tailing me and confessing their feelings to me on a regular basis which placed me in (sometimes) very awkward situations. First of all, I was never a person that mingled around much with anyone in the first place. I'd rather keep to myself and fade into the background and hope that no one sees me. I'm more inclined to listen to opinions than talk out loud. With that all said, I have absolutely no idea how such a reclusive fellow like myself could attract girls. I would not say that I am anti-social but, I prefer not to be at the center of attention.

* * *

><p>"<strong>こんにちは、私の名前はエリカです。<strong>**あなたのは何ですか****?****"**

"**DAMMIT!" **I cursed a little too loud in fact**.**

I looked up from my seat and saw that the bunch of girls had finally decided to try their luck and come up to me to converse. The problem was that the language was Japanese and it has been a while since I spoke the language. It was going to take me a while to get back into form (Mind, switch language from English to Japanese…..okay, done).

"Yes?" I replied in Japanese, "Can I help you?" "Oh nothing, we just saw that you were alone so we came up to say hi" said the blond-hair girl "I'm Erica by the way. What's your name?"

"Joseph" I said in a brusque tone

"What is with the cold attitude, we only came up to say hi. Don't be such a meanie!"

"You are saying that I am mean?" as I looked down again (trying to look anywhere else other than at the annoying gaggle of girls).

"Yes, you are" said the brunette "We were only trying to be to be friendly here. Don't give us the cold shoulder"

"Sorry, I have a ride to catch. See you when I see you" I replied quickly as I grabbed my bag and immediately got of my seat, walking towards the free shuttle buses heading towards the city.

"What a dick, ah well. It was worth a shot. He was quite cute for a guy" whispered the Blond-hair girl. Not that I was being unfriendly but I knew that being friends with them spells **doom** in bold letters and I was also pretty sure that I would never see them again in my life. From just a single glance, I could tell that by the way they held themselves that they wanted to get into a 'money relationship'. You know, those relationships where they like you, make you buy expensive goods, then dumps you when you're broke. Yeah, I picked up on these skills like that just by listening/eavesdropping on people all the time. Pretty handy to get out of such situations I must say. Now, where was I headed?

* * *

><p><strong>Enroute to Tatsumi Port Island (10.45pm);<strong>

"God, the trip is long" I thought. "Why is Port Island so far away from the airport?" I cursed at the long trip down towards my destination. From what I have heard, Port Island was a man-made island built by the Kirijo group. Great company as the best scientists, engineers and businessmen all work there. Worthwhile to have that company in mind when I find a job.

"_We are now approaching Tatsumi Port Island, Please alight"_

"Thank God I'm finally here" I thought "Aunt Teri will have my head if I arrive late". I proceeded to take my stuff, got off the bus and made my way towards the train station.

As expected, I had no idea who the hell I should look out for. It has been a long time since I had seen Aunt Teri, 7 years in fact. She must have changed a lot since then. The good thing was that there was absolutely no one at the station which made me stick out like a sore thumb. There is no way that Aunt Teri will not find me.

"Hey! Over here!" shouted a female voice out of nowhere that snapped me out of my trance. I looked up and saw a young, attractive female walking towards me and deduced that she was Aunt Teri.

"Hey there little tyke, all grown up now I see! Mmn. Handsome for your age too I might add." She joked with me. "The name's Teri Akashi, I'm your guardian from today forward and you better follow me now or you'll not have a ride home!" she teased me and I could not help but chuckle at the jokes she made as I followed behind her to her car.

* * *

><p><strong>(11.20pm);<strong>

The ride home was a little longer than I had expected but it was worthwhile. Well, at least Aunt Teri did not make it boring. She talked about her life and how it was until she received a call from mom and asked her to take care of me.

"You know, I may not look like it but you're not the only person I have to take care of"

"Really?"

"Yeah, I have to take care of another kid I think 3 or 4 years younger than you. He is my sister's son"

"Why are you taking care of him and not your sister?" I asked, feeling a little angry at the said sister.

"She died in an accident 3 years ago." Aunt Teri replied grimly "Her son was the only survivor of the accident"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I should not have asked." I replied, feeling guilty all of a sudden for bringing up such a sensitive topic.

"No, it's okay. Anyway, here is my place." She replied quickly so as to steer the conversation away from such a depressing topic which I was glad she did. I did not need my guardian to be depressed right now after a hard day's work.

I followed Aunt Teri into her apartment (Bigger than I expected) and expected to see a little boy in there but then saw that all the shoes at the shoe rack where female shoes which implied that she only lived here. This puzzled me.

"Aunt Teri, You said you had to take care of a kid yes?"

"Yes. Why?"

"So why is he not living with you?"

"He lives in a school dorm so he does not live with me."

"OH!" That pretty much answered the question. I found my room at the end of the corridor and when I saw the bed (among the vast number of boxes), I suddenly realized how heavy my body was and deduced that sleep was in order. So I wished Aunt Teri good night and immediately hit the sack.

* * *

><p><strong>Elsewhere in a deserted alley in Paulownia Mall (Midnight);<strong>

In the shadows of the now closed mall, a dark figure suddenly jerks its head up like a wolf that has suddenly found an intriguing scent. It then stands up and turns its head and stares into the distance. The bright, waning moon casting its light on the shadow as it slowly walks out of its hole, illuminating the pale mouth as the ends tugged up into a slight grin. It had finally found its prey. The question remained, where is it?

* * *

><p><strong>Editor's notes:<strong>

**Will try not to take up too much time with this trivial stuff which I know most people don't read (but hope you do as it sometimes give important details regarding the story plot). The entire story can be fully understood if you have played P3 Journey and Answer together with P4 on the PS2 as I will be using those events to pitch together the plot for this story (If not, go to Youtube and watch walkthroughs for all three). Basically that is it so, until next time!  
><strong>


	3. Chapter02: The School

**Chapter02: The School**

_16/4/10_

**Iwatodai station (7.30AM)**

Thank god I got up early. I had just gotten all my school stuff packed and headed to the dining room just in time to see Aunt Teri cooking up breakfast. I took the toast that was lying on the table and ran out of the door saying thanks for the breakfast. I decided to brisk walk my way towards the station. When I got there however, it was a whole different scene from last night.

I would say it was gloomy at first but with the train station bustling with so much activity, I would say I had mixed feelings about the atmosphere in the station. If I were to describe it, I would say that it was the "morning daze" atmosphere so it was both positive and negative in a weird way….. "_**Why am I thinking about such things now? At times like this, I always need music to calm myself down."**_

As I was walking towards the station, I was suddenly lurched forward as something collided into me from behind.

"What the hell!" I cried out in English as I soon found the side of my face kissing with the cold asphalt.

"Holy crap! I'm so sorry! Are you alright!" The guy asked apologetically.

"Holy shit. That really made my day and yeah, I'm alright" I picked myself up and looked at the guy and realised that he was staring at me in a funny manner. That was when I mentally punched myself. I replied in English, not Japanese. I really have to remember that this is Japan and not the States. Most of them do not understand English here.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for your concern." I replied quickly in Japanese. I took a good look at the guy this time. He was a good 2 centimetres taller than me and he was wearing the same school uniform as me. The only thing that was not in the school dress code was the hat that he wore. When I finished accessing him, I saw an expression of shock on the previously worried face.

"Do I have something on my face?" I asked as I touched my face to see if the impact caused something to have glued itself on my face.

"Oh no. Nothing at all." He replied as his face turned up into a huge grin. "Anyways, it's nice to see that you are okay. Got to go. See you when I see you dude." He said as he ran off into the station and disappeared from sight.

"_**Huh, what a jubilant person. But the way he eyed me just now, why was he so shocked**__?"_ I thought. "Ah well. Must have mistaken me for someone just now".

* * *

><p><strong>Enroute to Gekkoukan High, 2<strong>**nd**** car (7.45am)**

"_**It couldn't have been him. I mean he died to save us so it can't have been him. Yeah. That is the only logical explanation. So why the hell can't I let the issue drop! I mean, Why does he resemble him so much! GAHHHHH!"**_ cursed the cap-wielding boy as he was deep in thought only to be awoken out of the trance by the three girls surrounding him.

"What's wrong Junpei-san? You look troubled." asked the blond-hair girl who was wearing oversized headphones that covered her ears.

"He must have just realised that his future test results showed that he will not be successful in the future Aigis." joked the brown-haired girl next to her. "That or he just got the morning blues."

"I think it's the second option Yukari-chan" giggled the petite green-haired girl that was sitting next to the boy.

"Hahaha. Yeah, real funny ladies. The real answer is none of the above." Replied the boy grimly who pushed his cap further down his front to hide more of his face and tilted his face downwards to face the ground. This reaction was answered by the exchange of worrisome glances by the three girls as this was the second time they had seen the boy look this distraught.

"Hey," asked the brown-hair girl "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I said I'm fine! Just drop the issue!" replied the boy rather loudly which made the girls flinch at the response

"You're vital signs are flaring up Junpei-san." Rebuked the blond hair girl. "You are concealing something important from us."

The boy signed at the robotic response from his friend. There was no way he could even try to conceal this matter with Ai-chan around.

"Fine, I'll tell you then." He replied rather reluctantly. "At the station I saw this dude. About yeah tall and I accidentally bump into him."

"WHAT! You are this worried just because you bumped into him! Grow up Stupei!" Replied the brown-hair girl as she started laughing at her friend's stupidity which made the green-hair girl start to giggle again.

"Let me finish!" replied the boy rather angrily. "I helped him up and that was when I got a good look at his face. It was HIS face" he finished with a serious tone in his voice.

"HIS face! What the hell Stupei! Are you turning gay?" Replied the Brown-hair girl as she continued laughing. The Blond girl however, knew what her companion was trying to get at and her expression turned serious.

"HIS face!"

The brown haired girl had then stopped her laughing fit and looked at her Blond companion then to her male companion to see the serious looks on both their faces. That was when it dawned onto her what he was trying to tell them all along.

"H…HI..HIS face Junpei?" she replied in a shocked tone. "Are you positive?"

The boy nodded his head and replied, "Yeah, took a good look at it and sure enough, it was his face no doubt. The thing is. We all know what has happened to him and know why he is not with us now. So it was a pretty big shock for me to see his face again. Hell, I know that the guy was definitely not him but…..dammit"

"It could have just been someone else that just resembled him so that doesn't give you a reason to beat yourself up over such a trivial thing." replied the green hair girl.

"You're right Fuuka. I should just let it slide but I just can't seem to get it out of my head and tell myself that the dude is not him. They both look so identical!"

**Meanwhile, in the 5****th**** car (7.50am)**

"Atchoo!"

"_**Is there someone talking bad behind my back now?" **_I wondered as it has been a long time since I have sneezed this much so yeah, I'd say that someone has been talking about me (Then again. Whenever a rumour regarding me and another girl appears on the school's rumour mill, I tend to sneeze a lot too so…). Now that I took a good look out of the window, I saw the crystalline blue sea that appeared to be a large glittering mirror. That really makes the morning blues go away.

"_**Probably the same reaction you get when you wake up on a beach villa..."**_ I guessed. As I was day dreaming, I saw the ocean scene change into a view of a large building on an artificial island as the train turned round the bend.

"_**So that is Gekkoukan High" "Let's hope it is good" **_I thought.

* * *

><p><strong>Gekkoukan High (8.20am)<strong>

I have to admit, the school is way bigger that what I expected. I mean, it's massive. The campus is easily twice the size of my old school.

"_**Well. A new life and a clean slate. Might as well make full use of it. "**_

Not that I was happy with the new school and environment but something about this school just feels weird.

"_**Now, where was the administrative office? I really need to find my assigned homeroom teacher." **_I thought as I looked around in my bag to find the itinerary that was given to me.

"_**What was that teacher's name now? Ah, here it is. Miss Toriumi."**_

* * *

><p><strong>Administrative office (8.30am)<strong>

"_**Finally! I was wandering the halls of the school and it was here all along!" "Am I stupid or what?"**_ I cursed as I finally found the office after minutes of walking. I opened the door to find the room nearly empty save for one teacher who was packing up her things on the desk.

"Excuse me madam, are you Miss Toriumi by any chance?" I questioned the lady.

"Hmm? OH! Sorry, I did not see you there and yes I'm Miss Toriumi" The woman replied "I take it you're the new transfer student correct?"

I nodded my head as a silent yes. "Oh good, you are just on time. I was about to go up to my homeroom. I can show you the way. Oh wait, introductions have to be made first. I'm Miss Toriumi and I teach composition in this school. And your name would be…."

"Joseph, Joseph Emmanuel Terin" I replied politely.

"Wow, quite a mouthful for a name there. Anyway, it's nice to have you on board" Miss Toriumi smiled encouragingly as I gave a weak smile to show my eagerness.

"_**Well. Looks like this year is going to be better than what I anticipated."**_ I thought resignedly.

* * *

><p><strong>Lunchtime (1.30pm)<strong>

There really was not much to do during lunch hour. All I did during the hour was to see the director of studies to confirm my subject choices as I postponed such an event until I arrived to the school. Then I wandered around.

"_**Boy, been here for half a day and I still don't know anyone here."**_ I sighed as I proceeded back to my class after wandering the premises only to be stopped by a voice.

"Hey, wait up!"

I turned around to see a girl in spectacles running up to me. On close inspection, I would say she had looks straight out of a manga. She was cute in a special way.

"Yes? Is there a problem?" I asked.

"Yes, you dropped this." She replied as she held up my wallet.

"Holy Crap!" I cried out in English as I franticly search my pockets and true enough, that wallet was mine. "Thanks for picking it up for me." I replied in Japanese as I relieved her of the wallet.

"That is okay. Anyway I did not introduce myself. I'm Chihiro Fushimi, The chairperson of our class."

"You are in my class?"

"…Don't tell me you did not notice?"

"Uhh….Yes?"

"(giggle) You are just like Arisato Sempai. Anyway, welcome to Gekkoukan High school. It is a bit late but thought you would need the greeting anyway."

"Haha well thank you. Joseph" I raised my hand to shake hers which she did in return.

(School bell rings)

"Oh! Lunchtime is over. We better get going or we will be late for our class." Chihiro replied.

"Okay."

* * *

><p><strong>After School<strong>** (3.15PM)**

"**Well, time to hang out somewhere.**" Thought I as I proceeded towards the main gate to start wander the streets of Port Island. If I'm going to live here, I'm going to need to explore the sights and sounds of the city.

"**Now, Paulownia** **Mall seems to be the best place to start exploring"**

**Meanwhile:**

"Aigis! Where are headed! The exit is right there! Hey! Don't (Grunt) run..off!" Replied Yukari as she tried to pull her mechanical friend away from the school. "Hey! Where are you going anyway!"

"To the lower classes." Aigis responded.

"What are you going to gain from that!" questioned Yukari, "Do you really believe Junpei's story? Like Fuuka said, he may resemble 'him' but he is not Minato! HEY!"

"I won't know until I see him with my own two eyes Yukari, I…I…I.." stammered Aigis as she turned back to the school and ran.

"HEY! WAIT!" shouted Yukari as she ran after her friend, both not realising the black long-haired boy in question walking past them heading for the school gate.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Writer's notes:<span>**

**Well...First off, sorry that I have not published anything for a long while. Thing have been pretty hectic lately and have not had time to finish making the layout of this chapter for a long time. So...I would say that the story here is kind of rushed. Will make a sub chapter soon to finish the chapter here. Don't expect any miracles of another chapter from me for a while but rest assure that I will continue the story. Until next time! :)**


	4. Chapter03: The Event

**Chapter03: The Event**

_16/04/10_

**Behind Iwatodai Station (11.20pm)**

A mysterious figure staggers behind the station like a drunken man. With uneven steps, heavy breathing and hunched body, he staggers over to a group of men sitting at the entrance of an alley. All of a sudden, a hand grabs the shoulder of the drunken man from behind.

"Been waiting for you asshole! Where is my MONEY!" Flanked behind the man was three intimidating figures armed with metal poles.

"I….I….g..ot it right here." The drunken man replied "But follow me first."

"You better not try any bullshit now or you will be in for a world of pain!" as the group proceeded into the narrow alley. They exited the alley and entered a nearby construction site, as they walked further into the site, the drunken man then turned to face his adversaries.

"Nice place to hand the money over" said one of the men as his friends started to take an aggressive stance. "You handing over the shit or…wait, you trying to tell us that you have no money for us you piece of jackshit?"

"First of, I don't have anything to give you shits!" Said the drunken man aggressively. "OH. So you decided to bring us here so we could part you from this world. Is that right?" Said one of the assailants in a sweet deadly voice. "Well guess what you piece of shit! You just got your wish granted!"

"I haven't finished yet. Did you just say that it's my grave?" The former drunk man laughed shrilly "You stupid degenerates! There is one reason why I chose this place for the meeting, so that no one can hear your screams." "Did our past beat-ups give you brain damage? Us scream!" the assailants howled with laughter. "You're the one that will be screaming when we beat you to death bitch!" The assailants proceeded towards the defenceless man.

"It's not me who will die. _**It is you!**__"_ As soon as the sentence was done the assailants stopped dead in their tracks.

"Whut the fuck dude?"

" H..H…EY, SOMETHINGS WRONG WITH THIS FUCK!"

"What you talking about dude? There is nothing wrong with him."

" I…I SWEAR TO GOD HIS EYES JUST CHANGED COLOUR! IT WAS'NT YELLOW JUST NOW! LOOK!"

"Huh?"

The men puzzled looked harder and true enough; the formerly black eyes of their target had turned a murky shade of yellow shining with an unnatural faint glow.

"What the fuck."

The yellow-eyed men then glowed a faint shaded of yellow before yelling out in pain to reveal an ethereal being thrice the size of the man behind summoned behind him. The assailants then fell backwards to the ground in terror.

"_**NOW THE REAL FUN BEGINS! KAHAHAHAHA!"**_ The man replied with an echo-filled voice as the ethereal being lunging forward towards the terrified men.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Writers notes:<span>**

**_Hi yet again. I did say I would be gone for a while but will not stop the story! This is the tie-in chapter which I said would conclude the previous chapter so there you have it! Will continue writing so give me positive reviews and ideas for upcoming chapters. Who knows, I may use your idea people. And positive reviews just to make me feel good:) Will see you next time! _  
><strong>


	5. Chapter04: The Queue

**Chapter04:The Queue**

17/04/10

**Iwatodai Station (7.45AM)**

"Hey did you hear?"

"Yeah, I heard! Something about some guys mutilated correct?"

"Yah, OMG that was so creepy! I think they showed the bodies on the screen. Ewwwww!"

"**God! Can't they keep quiet!"** thought I as I looked out of the window annoyed at the fact that some girls can't keep their juicy gossip topics shut in their mouths. Today's train ride was packed! Well, it was expected since it IS Japan but I think packed was underestimating the volume of people standing in the same carriage as me. I think it would be better to say that I was literally squished tight. Worse of all, I COULD NOT EVEN REACH MY MUSIC PLAYER! **"Damn it all! This sucks!"**

"Eh? Terin-san?"

I turned around (Well, my head to be more precise) to see Chihiro three person length away.

"Oh, morning Fushimi"

"Good morning. Lovely day isn't it?"

"Lovely? Well, if we ignoring that we are stuck in the peak of the morning rush hour stuffed into the car of a certainly, very over-crowed train like a bunch of cotton jammed into a test tube and ALSO the fact that I can't even move an inch and I fear that my hands may drop off due to no blood circulation, YES. It is a lovely morning."

I then proceeded to turn my head again to face her after my "detailed" explanation to see her giggling.

"I'm glad you are enjoying yourself" Chihiro replied.

"OH YES! I'm living the Japanese dream." I replied sarcastically.

"Oh right, The next stop is ours. You better get yourself unclogged Terin-san."

"I think you should worry about yourself Fushimi. I'm actually standing next to the exit am I not?" At those words, Chihiro's face flushed a light shade of red at the prospect that I was right.

* * *

><p><strong>Gekkoukan High (8.20am)<strong>

"Jezz, JUNPEI! Hurry up! What are you doing!" Yukari shouted. "We are going to be late!"

"Huh? Oh, OKAY!" replied the sheepish teen as he snapped back into reality and started to walk with more refined vigor to catch up with his friends.

"Honestly Junpei! Why are you so dead today? You have been looking like this for the past hour." Yukari quipped. "Did something happen yesterday?"

"You could say that." replied the teen, "It's just family issues."

"Doesn't look like it." replied Fuuka, "Is it Chidori?"

"Are you using Juno on me Fuuka!"

"N..No!" replied the girl, "I just guessed."

"Yeah, it's Chidori alright. She just did not want to go out yesterday night. She said that she needed to stay inside the hospital for no good reason. Aww man! I was so looking forward to it!"

"What is so bad about not going out for dinner?" asked Aigis

"I don't think you would understand Ai-chan. It's just a thing."

"A thing?" questioned the android maiden "I don't understand."

"I don't think you need to Aigis." replied Yukari

"But I want to. So tell me, what is this 'thing'?"

"A very long story with no subtitles.." replied Junpei.

"I can make the subtitles so please?"

* * *

><p><strong>After School<strong>

"Terin-san, have you applied for any clubs yet?"

"Huh? Errr… No I haven't." I replied.

"You should apply for one. Although studying is important, you should also consider some club activities. It will help you with your university application." Chihiro quipped.

"Okay thanks. Recommend any?"

"Umm… I might not be the best person to ask as I might be more biased due to my clubs mostly inclined towards the arts. Unless, you would want to participate in such a club."

"I like to keep my options open so. Why not? Of course I need some time to think abo-" I started to reply.

"Oh, that's right I forgot! You have to take a minimum of 2 activities in this school. It's stated in the school rules."

"**WHAT? What kind of weird rule is that! It's even compulsory!"** thought I. "Why 2?" I asked.

"It's because each activity occurs 2 days each week but it is now optional to go for the 2nd day." Chihiro replied

"So 1 activity, 1 day. Is that right?"

"Yes, personally I think this system is better than last yea-"

"FUSHIMI-SAN! YOUR LATE FOR THE MEETING! STOP FLIRTING WITH THE NEW KID AND GET MOVING!" A male student standing at the classroom door exclaimed.

"FLIR- WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!" Chihiro replied as her face flushed pink.

"Better get a move on or people might get the wrong idea." I tried suggested but Chihiro was already moving towards the door and flashing an "I'm sorry" look before disappearing.

" **Well, I better haul ass too I think."** I thought, **"A club huh… Forgot about looking for one when I came here. I think I will save that for another time. Need to head home to unpack stuff first…. Wait, why is everyone looking at me?"**

* * *

><p><strong>Elsewhere<strong>

"**Uggg. Finally, school's over. Can't stand another minute of lecture."** Yukari thought as she packed up her desk preparing to return to the dorm. Walking out into the corridor, she could not help but take a little detour towards the rooftop. When she got there, she was nostalgic. She could not help but remember all the memories of him. Times they spent together with Junpei and Fuuka eating lunch together (of course also with Aigis when she arrived later), times they would be together alone up here and she would talk about her personal problems with him. Confining secrets she would never trust anyone else with and in time, she grew fond of him. There were times where she would join him in Tartarus and could not establish eye contact with him or get too close to him without blushing. Sometimes he would notice this and ask if she was okay to which she would reply that she was okay with a flustered face. She had shunned others due to her need to be independent, to be better than her mother. It was something in his nature that made her change and in due time, she fell in love with him which in turn, he would accepted it. As she gazed out into the horizon, she remembered that at that point in time, she has never felt that happy in her entire life. She could have replaced her life of solitude with a life she had never imagined would happen. Then the fall happened. A fight she wished never happen, she had forgotten all that had occurred until graduation day where it was a little too late. She remembered running ahead of everyone reaching the rooftop as promised to see him and Aigis together. She then ran up and embraced him who, which in return, did the same but it was only for that split moment where she felt the return embrace end and a heavy body drop down on her that she realised something was wrong but it was too late. He had already at that point, departed from this world.

Sheading a small tear drop at the prospect of remembering such a sad memory, she then proceeded to the end of the rooftop and looking down at the leaving students, she wished that she could, if possibly, catch a glimpse of him. All of a sudden, she saw a boy looking up towards the rooftop. She thought she was hallucinating. She blinked a few times and strained her eyes, the long front fringe parting towards his right side, the way he held himself, there was no mistake.

"M..Mi..nato?" Yukari whispered. She could not believe her eyes. She ran towards the school entrance as fast as her legs could carry her and out into the front courtyard and frantically surveyed the area for him but she could not find him anywhere.

"**Where is he?"** she thought as she continued to look for him. She then caught a glimpse of him as he turned around the corner at the school entrance. She ran towards the school gate and turned around the corner and spotted him. Catching up to him, she grabbed his right shoulder and turned him around trying to get a better look at his face. As he was spun around, the long fringe of the teen cover most of his face but due to her emotions, Yukari hugged the boy and cried as she did so.

"Your back!" Yukari replied with a wet voice.

"**WHO IN THE LOVING VOICE OF GOD IS THIS GIRL?" **Joseph thought as he stood paralyzed in his position due to shock.

* * *

><p><strong>Editors<strong>**Notes:**

****Hi Hi, me again. I know its been flipping long since my last release but I do keep my promise and so here is another chapter for you all. I'm actually thinking about removing the date and time settings on my stories as it might not help one bit and will complicate the story possibly in the long run. Anyway, please review after reading as some of your reviews might help me further improve my base story line in the possible future. Till next time!


	6. Chapter05: The Unknown

**Chapter05:The Unknown**

**Iwatodai Strip Mall**

"I am so sorry!" The brown haired girl said as she apologised for the million and one time in the span of a few minutes that I was with her. How did it come to? It's a long story. Here I am sitting in the Wild Duck fast food eatery, drinking Celo Tea and listening to a girl shout out a life's worth of "sorry" in every possible manner. Heck, I think I heard her say it in English too.

"It's okay…" I replied. **"But it is rare for a girl to come up and hug me that's for sure. Hell this is my first time meeting you!" **I thought.

"B….B..But…I'm sorry" she said

"Enough with the sorry okay! I get it. So stop embarrassing yourself please." I replied exasperatedly.

"…Okay" replied the girl as she tried her best to ease herself.

"Anyway, what is up with you?" I asked her.

* * *

><p><strong>Approximately an hour ago<strong>

"**WHO IN THE LOVING VOICE OF GOD IS THIS GIRL?!" **I stood paralyzed on the spot due to the vice grip hold of the girl. "C…Co..Could you please let go?" I managed to squeak out after a while (Also due to the fact that she wasn't allowing me to breathe.)

"It's been so long I didn't know if I was going to see you again." She sobbed in my chest, oblivious to my plea for oxygen."When you left, I didn't know what to do! I thought that if I lived my life like before I would have no problem forgetting you. But I couldn't do it, I couldn't forget you! I hated myself for not being able to do so when it was so simple for me in the past. But you're here now aren't you. God, I missed you." She continued to ramble while hugging me tightly.

"**Whoa, she smells nice. She is also not too bad lo-Whoa Whoa Whoa STOP RIGHT THERE JOSEPH! If she realise what she is doing, this will go south really fast and not to mention she would be even more embarrassed later!" **I thought finally as my mind kicked back into action with warning bells sounding off in my head. "Let go of me!" I shouted, breaking out of the vice grip hold the girl was holding me with.

"Minat-" she replied with sad shock in her voice as she looked at my face hoping for an explanation for the behaviour until she got a good look at me.

"What? Your…not.." Before she could finish her sentence, her face flushed a bright maroon colour as she realised that she was all this while, hugging the wrong person.

"I…I…I…..I…..I" She stammered as she tried to look for the right words to justify the reason for hugging me.

"If you are done, can I please leave now?" I replied as I turned and started to walk away to stop her from further embarrassing herself.

"WAIT!" She finally said as she grabbed my hand. "Let me apologise for just now please."

* * *

><p><strong>Presently<strong>

"You know what, forget it. Since you are treating me to a meal, I will let it slide." I replied. "What's your name if I may ask?"

"Yukari, Yukari Takeba." She replied. "What is yours?"

"Joseph. Joseph Emmanuel Terin" I answered, lifting my hand for a handshake which she returned.

"I haven't seen you before Terin-san. Are you new around here?" Yukari asked.

"Yeah, I am new here." I answered back.

"Well then. Even though it is a little late but welcome to our school" She replied.

"Oh thanks. Huh?" I said as my phone started to ring. "An email. Excuse me for a bit."

"Come back home ASAP, we need to talk. Teri Akashi" The email read.

"Something came up?" Questioned Yukari as I stood up.

"Kind of. Anyway nice to meet you Yukari-san. It was a pleasure." I replied.

"Oh, okay." She said as she waved goodbye as I exited the eatery.

* * *

><p><strong>Home<strong>

"What is it Aunt Teri? What is so urgent?" I asked as she sat me down immediately when I arrived back with a grim look on her face.

"Umm….You do recall me saying that I also take care of another kid right?" She questioned me.

"Yes I remember. Why?" I asked.

"Well.." She started, "I had made a promise that I would go out with him this coming weekend but err…"

"Go on." I asked her.

"One of the staff just got hospitalised and I need to cover for her and so-"

"You need me to go on your behalf is that it?" I answered before she could continue.

"Yes. So I hope it's not too much of a hassle that you can go in my stead? Unless you have something on this weekend." She asked.

"No. I've got nothing happening this weekend so yeah, I'm free." I replied.

"THANK YOU!" She suddenly sprung up from her chair and started to shake my hand with renewed vigour. "You have just saved my life! I couldn't bear the thought of breaking my promise to my nephew. I have this ha-" she started to ramble with renewed vigour.

"**Lady! That is what you wanted to talk to me about?! I thought it was something to do with my parents or it was something more severe!"** thought I as I stared in disbelief that something so simple could upset my aunt. "Is that it?" I finally said after she had 'calmed' down.

"Yes. Oh and Joseph," Her eyes glinting with evil at that sentence "I didn't know you move so fast. You sly ladykiller." She quipped.

"Huh? What?" I replied.

"You were with a girl just now were you not. Tell me now Joseph, How far did you go with her? I promise not to tell your parents." She said with an evil grin on her face as she moved closer to me. As she did so, I felt my face turn red due to being caught.

"I didn't do anything to h- Wait a minute! How did you know I was out with a girl?!" I questioned.

"So you don't deny it." Giggling, she stepped away from me and with her left hand on her mouth; she pointed at me and said, while suppressing her laughter, "You have lipstick on your shirt."

"**WHAT THE HELL!?"**

* * *

><p><strong>Elsewhere<strong>

"Hahh! That was such a good bath!" Said Yukari as she stepped out of the shower.

"Yukari-san, do you want anything from the convenience store? I'm going out." Asked Aigis.

"No, I'm fine. Take care." Replied Yukari as her friend walked out.

Returning to her room, Yukari started to recap what happened this afternoon. Hugging that stranger was still the memory vivid on her mind.

"**He looks just like him." **Thought Yukari as she collapsed on her bed.

"**Will I see him again? I wonder…"**

* * *

><p><strong>Editor's Notes<strong>

**Hi guys, me again. Thanks for your support yet again. Nice to see that many of you are reading my story. As it is the plot is getting a bit "Juciy" in a manner of speaking. Things will be more entertaining in the next chapter I assure you. Till next time ^_^ **


	7. Chapter06: The Boy And The Dog

**Chapter06:The Boy And The Dog**

**Morning (Port Island Station)**

"Hahhh. Finally, it's the weekend!" I yawned. The last week went by pretty fast and the next thing I knew, it was the weekend.

"**Hope this errand is not that much of a hassle, I really need the relaxation." **Thought I as I walked out of the station and into the streets passing the Iwatodai strip mall along the way and stopping momentarily at the Wild Duck fast food eatery.

"**Geez, I hope I don't have any more of those weird meetings like yesterday. That was officially the freakiest meeting I had with a girl so far."**

Walking away from the eating joint, I continued to walk down the strip until I came across a large LED overhead screen reading out today's news.

"-top stories. Last night, a huge explosion occurred near the Tatsumi Bridge has injured 8 and left 3 dead. Police are now investigating the cause behind the explosion. Preliminary findings have stated that it was an underground gas explosion and…" The news goes on.

"Underground explosion? Is that even possible?" I silently questioned after hearing the news. "Bah! Forget it." **"I need to get to this Naganaki shrine place to meet whoever I promised to meet. Let's see.." **Thought I as I reached into my pocket to retrieve my phone and opened up the email sent by Aunt Teri regarding the person who I needed to meet.

"Err… short, about 12 years old, handsome, nice. And his name is..Ken….Amada."

* * *

><p><strong>Naganaki Shrine<strong>

"Brrr, today is pretty chilly. Don't you think so Koro?" Ken said as he sat on the shrine's offertory steps alongside a white shiba-inu dog with distinctly bright red eyes.

"Whine.." The dog replied weakly.

"You think so too huh. Still, it is pretty pleasant." Ken sighed as he looked up at the sky and started to ponder.

It was just yesterday when he received a call from his guardian Teri Akashi saying that something has come up at work and could not meet him today which did not bother the youth one bit since he knew how busy she was. But she then said that instead of her, she was going to send another person in her stead to accompany him today which of course came to a surprise for Ken. She also stated that he was new and thought that Ken could show him around.

"You know Koro, this might be the first time I am showing a person around an area. Do you think I might do a good job? I'm actually kind of nervous." Ken asked his canine companion.

"Arf! Woof!" The canine placed his paw on Ken's lap in an attempt to assure the young boy.

"Haha. Glad I choose this spot to meet though. There is no one here apart from us Koro." Ken exclaimed as he looked around the area. "Hey! If he comes here, you can meet him too Koro!"

"Woof!" Koro barked enthusiastically. All of a sudden, the canine then picked up a familiar scent and shifted his focus to the temple entrance to the person who had just arrived and was looking around. Ken then turned his attention to the stranger only to be shocked.

"It's not possible? Mi…..nato Se..Sempai?" whispered Ken as the stranger approached the youth and asked, "Hi. Errr…are you Ken?"

* * *

><p><strong>At the same time<strong>

"Hi. Errr…are you Ken?" asked Joseph as he looked at the stunned youth who was staring at him as if he had seen a ghost.

"**What is up with this kid? Is he okay?"** thought Joseph as he stood there waiting for an answer from the youth. "Hey! You okay kid?" he then asked.

Shocked by the sudden change in tone, Ken broke out of his trance. "Huh? Oh sorry. Yeah, my name is Ken." He replied quickly. "Errr…please to meet you. Umm….what is your name?" asked Ken awkwardly.

"Huh? Aunt Teri didn't tell you?" Joseph asked at which Ken replied no.

"It's Joseph, Joseph Emmanuel Terin. Please to meet you Ken Amada."

"Errr… mine too?" replied Ken unsure, still shocked. "Oh yeah, this is Koromaru. Say hi Koro."

"Woof" The dog replied as he made his way towards Joseph to say hi.

"Listen, I was told that you would show me around Port Island yes?

"Oh! Yeah. You want to go now?" Ken asked.

"What kind of question is that? Of course!" Joseph replied

"Okay. Ummm….can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Do you know someone called Arisato Minato?"

"Errrr…..no. Why?"

"Just asking. Shall we go?" replied Ken.

* * *

><p><strong>2-4 hours later<strong>

"What's next Ken?" asked Joseph.

"Well… there is Port Island's movie theatre. But we have Koro with us so I don't think we can watch a movie today." Ken replied

"Whine…"

"A movie theatre huh? Well is going to be fun."

"Sorry?" asked the youth.

"I got an idea. This worked in the States with my friends once" Replied Joseph as he rummaged through his bag. "Do as I say."

* * *

><p><strong>10 minutes later<strong>

"Hi! How can I help you?"

"2 tickets please. One for teen and another for child."

"Sure. But the dog is not allowed in."

"Can't you see that the kid is blind?! The dog is a seeing eye dog."

"Oh, I see…wait, why is he 'watching' a movie then?"

"He can hear can't he? Right Ken?" asked Joseph to Ken

"Yeah." replied Ken who was wearing a pair of dark shades standing next to Koromaru, who was sitting next to him.

"2 tickets please." asked Joseph again.

* * *

><p><strong>2 hours later<strong>

"That was AWESOME!" Ken shouted with gleeful joy as both he, Joseph and Koromaru walked out of the theatre after the movie.

"It was touch and go there for a minute." Joseph replied. "I got to tell you this though, we got lucky right there just now."

"Where did you learn that trick?!" Ken asked.

"Like I told you, in the States. My friends brought their dogs out for a walk and then they saw an eatery and decided to try that trick out. But they got kicked out later."

"What happened?" asked Ken.

"Well, let's say that my friends ate too well for a blind person." laughed Joseph as he said that.

"I can't imagine that…" Ken replied.

"Well. It's late and if we don't get back home, Aunt Teri will kill us both." Joseph replied.

"Okay, see you Joseph-sempai." replied Ken

"Woof!" cried the canine.

"See you too!" Joseph replied as they parted ways.

* * *

><p><strong>After Joseph left<strong>

As they both saw Joseph leave, Ken and Koromaru stood there looking at the back of the said boy as he was walking away.

"It's not Minato-sempai…" Ken finally said after Joseph was out of eyesight.

"…" The dog sat silent, not reply the youth.

"But you get the same vibe too don't you Koro?" Ken turned to look at his canine companion.

"He is him but not him…at the same time."

"Arf!" replied the dog.

"**Who is he?"** Ken questioned himself.

* * *

><p><strong>Editor's Notes:<strong>

**Hi all again. This is still "suspense in the making" for the story plot so far. Please keep the comments on the story coming through (you guys are the best XD). Will see you all soon!**


	8. Chapter07: The Gang

**Chapter07:The Gang**

**The same day (Night)**

"Urggg…damn!" muttered the bleeding man as he struggled to find cover to tend to his wounds.

"What the fuck?! Sejun you bastard! Why the hell are you killing all of us! I thought we were on the same team!" cried a voice from the distance.

"Yes…..the same team. But this…..this thing! Its power is amazing!" muttered the said person in reply. "You know. This power has granted the ability to do things no one can do! I feel It's power growing every time I use it. Don't you think so Kanami?"

"But why are you doing this?! We are your friends, team mates, remember?! Why kill us!?" Kanami replied.

"Kill? No. You misunderstand me. I am getting stronger Kanami! You just need to see what I have seen man. I have been talking to it see and it….talks back man. Its voice is so soothing and soft. It just wants to help me even more! It wants me to reach enlightenment man. But only the strongest can reach enlightenment you see and there is another way to get stronger. The fastest way even man! I….I just have to borrow your power Kanami."

"Borrow?! You just killed all of us by taking it!"Kanami replied exhasperated

"Kill? No, they are just sleeping. Don't worry Kanami, the voice promised that the power can be returned to you. So don't worry, the transition is painless."

"Oh shit! Fuck! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Kanami cried out.

"Oh fuck!" gasped the bleeding man who was watching from his cover as Sejun's power took the form of an ethereal being, overcoming and absorbing Kanami's power.

"Hmm? You sense another one here?" Sejun said out loud all of a sudden. "Where?"

"**Oh Fuck!" **The man panicked.

* * *

><p><strong>The next day (After school)<strong>

"Terin-san, have you applied for an activity yet?" Fushimi asked

"No, I haven't yet. You have a recommendation?" I asked

"There are the athletics club if you are looking for an activity where you could sweat. And then there are the recreational club where you could learn about topics outside of the school syllabus." Fushimi replied.

"What about the Student Council?" I asked out of curiosity.

"You need a teacher's recommendation for a position in the Student Council. And since you are new, I doubt you will get in anytime soon." Chihiro replied.

"Okay errrrr….show me the list of the clubs under 'recreational'." I asked

"I think it's best if you saw the clubs for yourself. I have to go now so I can't take you on a tour. The activities have started so just go down to the first floor and look around. You are bound to find an activity that suits you Terin-san. See you." Shouted Chihiro as she ran out of the room.

"**An activity…worth checking them all out I suppose."**

* * *

><p><strong>An hour later<strong>

"AHHHH! Why am I here!? I should be at home sleeping right now!" Junpei cried out in agony.

"Junpei-san. The reason you are here is because you are in an activity and you are not allowed to skip it!" replied Aigis while she and Fuuka were working on a circuit board.

"Fuuka! You're the president of this club right?! Can't you just mark me present and just let me go?!" Junpei asked.

"Not this time Junpei. Do you know how much trouble I got into when Mr Ekoda asked me last week where you were? I had to make an excuse that you had really bad stomach aches and was in the toilet." Fuuka replied.

"Can't you just use that excuse again?" Junpei questioned.

"Even if I did, how are you getting out of school without either of the teachers looking at you leaving through the entrance?" Fuuka asked.

"AHHHHH! I shouldn't have even come here in the first place! Uahhhh! I want to sleep!" Junpei cried out.

"Junpei! Shut Up!" shouted both females at the same time.

"…yes mam." muttered the youth. "Man, wish Yuka-tan was here. It would have been livelier."

"She can't help it. She has archery practice and she did join this club so that we had enough members to start it up this Computer Club." Aigis replied.

"I did too…and so did Minato.." replied Junpei with a grim tone on reaching the name of his best friend. An eerie silence then filled the room on the name of their former leader and fellow friend from SEES.

"KNOCK KNOCK!"

The sudden knocking on the door jolted up the members from their depressed mood as they turned around to see the door open up and entered Yukari Takeba with her archery equipment in her hand enter the room.

"Hi! Practice ended early and I decided to drop by to see you guys. How is the computer coming up Fuuka?" replied Yukari.

"Quite good in fact. But all that me and Aigis can do is just upgrade the circuit board with modified CPU and higher RAM. But we can't do anything else." Fuuka replied.

"And I do nothing…" replied Junpei.

"Of course you do nothing Junpei. You don't get involved in any way!" Yukari replied.

"Hey Hey! I do stuff here alright!" defended Junpei.

"You just sleep here Junpei." Aigis replied with no hesitation.

"No I don't Ai-chan!"

"Did you not say you wanted to sleep five minutes ago?" the mechanical maiden questioned.

"I….bu…..that is not the case sometimes!" Junpei stammered.

"Now that I think about it, since when has Junpei been productive in this club?" Fuuka questioned herself.

"Fuuka….do you guys really have such low expectations of me?" cried Junpei.

"If given the option to answer…..YES!" replied all three females in union.

"KNOCK KNOCK!" there was somebody knocking at the yet again that roused the members from their conversation yet again.

"Come in!" Fuuka called out.

The person at the door opened the door and the reaction given by the four former SEES members were instantaneous with a mixture of shock and surprise on looking at the person at the doorway.

"Hi errrrrrr…what club is this?" ask Terin as he stood at the doorway.

* * *

><p><strong>At the same time<strong>

"Hi errrrrrr…what club is this?" I asked as I opened the door.

"Huh! Terin-san?!" replied the brown-haired girl.

"Huh? How do you kn- OH! Takeba-sempai! Good to see you again!" I replied.

"Hey! I recognise you! I bumped into you not too long ago. Remember me?" asked the cap-wearing boy who was pointing at himself.

"I don't remember. Sorry." I replied at which the guy hung his head in shame and muttered "Am I that transparent?"

"You know him Yukari-chan?" replied the green haired girl that was sitting down.

"Long story. Anyway, what brings you here Terin-san?" asked Yukari.

"I'm looking at clubs so I can join. So what club is this?" I asked again.

"It's the Computer Club. This is Fuuka Yamagishi, the club president. Aigis here is the vice president. And Junpei Iori, who is just a member. Guys, this is Terin-san. He just transferred here recently." said Yukari as she introduced the members of the club to me.

"Well I was looking around at the other clubs just now deciding which to join so-" I started to talk.

"Why don't you join us?" exclaimed Fuuka.

"What?" I questioned.

"Oh yes please? We are a pretty small group and we are quite small in terms of numbers so please? Can you join us temporary for the moment?" Yukari questioned.

"What? But I don't know anything about computers!" I replied.

"Oh don't worry." The boy called Junpei replied. "I don't know a thing either."

"Please could you join!?" pleaded Fuuka again.

"Well I errrr….fine." I gave up. It was at least better to be in a small group than a large group. And besides, at least one person (two if you count the guy) in the group knows me already.

"Great! We can start the paper work as soon as possible." Fuuka exclaimed.

"What? Paperwork?" I questioned.

"To show that you have joined the club." Yukari replied. "Now if you would just sign he-"

"_**Bell Rings"**_

"Oh crap, activities have ended. I guess we can do this another day. Take this slip, sign it and hand it in to your form teacher tomorrow. Other than that, welcome to the Computer Club!" Yukari exclaimed.

"Err….thanks. Well see you." I replied as I exited the door.

* * *

><p><strong>After Terin left<strong>

The former SEES members were left in silence after Terin left the room.

"He just looks like Minato…." whispered Fuuka, who had her hands to her mouth, after a long period of silence.

"I agree with Fuuka on this one." Replied Junpei, "Now if only his hair was longer and blu-"

"JUNPEI!" shouted Yukari.

"I mean don't you agree? He is like the bo-" but a stern glare from Yukari made the boy stop his sentence midway.

"He is not him Junpei. So don't try to compare!" Yukari exclaimed.

"Bu- alright I get it." Junpei signed. "But forget that, I think the only person that needs a reality check here is Ai-chan." At that sentence, the three of them turned to Aigis, who had been silent this whole time, and saw smoke coming out of her ears.

"Someone get her some ice-cream to eat. I think her circuits are in overload." Junpei exclaimed.

* * *

><p><strong>Editors Notes:<strong>

******Hi again, It's nice to see that there are people out there who enjoy my story. Will try to upload the next chapter as soon as possible. Thanks and keep sending me those reviews I so enjoy to read! ;)**


	9. Chapter08: Fate Or Coincidence

**Chapter08: Fate Or Coincidence**

**Three Days Later**

"Yup. That is how you do this question." Replied Fuuka.

"Got it, thanks." I thanked her. This was my second time in the clubroom since I had joined it and frankly, it is quite relaxing as a club. I usually spend my time doing school homework during club hours (This gave me more time to relax at home then). It seems to be that there were no teacher in charge of this club so we were free to do what we wanted (could also be that the club was not yet fully acknowledged as an activity by the Student Council too. Will talk to Chihiro about it….) While I was here, I did pick up on what my seniors were like.

Fuuka-sempai, the clubs' President, is quite reliable in terms of studies and she has a knack at understanding and fixing anything that has circuit boards or electricity running through its system. I later found out that she is one of the top ten percent in the school in her year. If you need something fixed or modified, I guess she should be the one to go to if you can't see an expert.

Aigis-sempai is…..well strange would be the best word to sum her up. She rarely talks in the clubroom unless she is asked a question and she has this weird habit of sitting totally upright for long periods of time. She also tends to stare at me when she thinks I'm not looking. And to top it off, her name is just Aigis, nothing else. Judging from her looks (and blond hair), I would say she was either from Sweden or maybe from France but I gave up guessing some time ago. Another thing is those large headphones she is always wearing! Is that the latest fashion these days? I have never seen her without them!

Junpei-sempai is a real slacker. I would see him just sleeping in the clubroom and doing nothing at all. That is it, just sleep and then excusing himself to use the toilet. Nothing much to go on from there unfortunately.

Last but not least, Yukari-Sempai. I guess due to her other activity (That I do not know of), she only pops into this club a few minutes before the end of activity time to see how we are doing. If there was something I picked up through school gossip, it is that she one of the most eligible girls in the school. I have to say though, they were not wrong about Yukari. She is quite an attractive individual. Above average in studies, good in sports (have to ask what sport she does) and she is pretty to top it off. But I also heard (again through gossip) that she is quite hard to please and have broken a lot of boy's hearts with rejected proposals.

"Hey Aigis, could you pass me the resistor there please?" Fuuka asked.

"Sure thing." Aigis replied.

"Okay, and… it is done!" The green haired senior exclaimed.

"What were you making?" I asked.

"A modified circuit board." She replied.

"Does it work this time?" Junpei asked as he awoke from his slumber.

"Won't know until I test it out." Fuuka replied.

"KNOCK KNOCK!"

"Come in!" Fuuka shouted.

"Hi! Archery Club ended so I pop in again to see how you guys were doing." Yukari-sempai said as she walked through the door.

"**Archery huh? I guess that is why she is in good shape." **I thought. "Well, Fuuka-sempai said that she completed the circuit board she has been working on." I replied.

Really! Then that calls for a celebration!" Yukari then exclaimed.

"Huh? Why?!" I questioned.

"Well first of all, we all didn't really celebrate your joining of the computer club and since Fuuka just completed the circuit board, I think now is the perfect time." The brunette senior exclaimed.

"If you put it that way, I guess I can't turn the offer down." I grinned. "Where are we going?"

"Hagakure. But first, I have to invite a few more people." Yukari replied.

* * *

><p><strong>Iwatodai Strip Mall (In front of Hagakure)<strong>

"What the-! Ken?! Koro?! What are you doing here?" I exclaimed.

"I should be asking you the same thing! What are you doing here Terin-san?!" Ken Amada replied.

"You know Ken Terin-san?" Fuuka asked confused.

"WOOF!" Koromaru barked happily.

"Nice to see you too Koro and yeah, I know him." I replied.

"He is happy to see you too Terin-san" Aigis replied

"Oh, tha- wait what?" I questioned Aigis. "You understood that?"

"…." Aigis gave no reply.

"**Okay, that was freaky.." **I thought. "Oh right, Who is your friend Ken?" I asked the youth as I just noticed the white haired teen standing behind Ken.

"Ah, I guess introductions are in order. Akihiko Sanada. Please to meet you." The teen extended his hand as a greeting.

"Joseph Emmanuel Terin." I returned the handshake.

"Well since you guys know each other now, I guess we can go in!" Junpei replied as he then walked into the store together with Ken, Aigis, Fuuka, Koromaru and Akihiko.

"How do you know Ken?" whispered Yukari to me.

"It is a long story. I will tell you later." I replied before going into the ramen store.

* * *

><p><strong>Two Hours later<strong>

"…..So that was how I meet Ken." I exclaimed as I retold the story of how I meet Ken and Koromaru.

"So your guardian is taking care of both you and Ken?" Yukari asked.

"Well…Aunt Teri is not really my guardian per se. She is just repaying a debt she owes my mom by giving me a place to stay while I am here. So I'm more of a roommate than someone she has to take care of. Thus, Aunt Teri is just taking care of Ken and she is my 'landlord'" I answered, emphasising landlord in inverted commas.

"But aren't you supposed to have a guardian while you are here?" Fuuka asked.

"I guess technically you could also say she should and is my guardian but on the school database, I am actually registered as an international boarding student. When asked though, I refused any of the school dorms recommended because I already had a place to stay."

"Wait, Aunt Teri said you were her nephew." Ken exclaimed.

"What? She said something like that?! Ken, it's Aunt Teri. You know what she is like." I replied.

"But she said that-" Ken began to talk.

"Obviously as a weird joke." I answered the question. "As far as I am concerned, she is one of my mother's best friends, we are not related in any way by blood."

"Oh! I see." Ken replied looking as though he wish he did not take the words of his guardian so seriously.

"Enough about me." I replied "How did you guys meet Ken?" I asked my seniors.

" ….errr…" An awkward silence filled the table as each member looked at each other including Ken.

"Well, to put it simply, you know Ken's from Gekkoukan Elementary School yes?" asked Akihiko.

"Yes?"

"Well there was this program in Gekkoukan High last year that had us pair up with the students from Gekkoukan Elementary School. That was how we meet Ken then." Akihiko summed it up.

"I see." I replied. "So you all were appointed to 'take care' of Ken here?"

"I guess you could say that." replied Junpei.

"Then how about Koromaru here?" I asked as I pet the said dog on the head.

"Well, we usually meet Ken at the shrine and Koro here use to belong to the head temple monk there and I guess he took a shine to us after a while." Junpei replied.

"Arf!" The dog yipped.

"I guess me too I suppose." I answered.

"Oh shoots! It is this late already?! We have to leave Aigis." Yukari exclaimed as she examined her phone.

"What? Oh right. I have to head home too. I have stuff to do." I replied.

"Well then see you later." Akihiko replied.

"Okay, nice to meet you too." I waved goodbye as I walked out of the eatery.

"HEY! YOU FORGOT TO PAY!" shouted Junpei which was my signal to start sprinting towards the subway.

* * *

><p><strong>At Home<strong>

"Hey, you're late." said Aunt Teri as I walked through the door.

"Yeah, sorry. Was out with some friends." I replied.

"You have friends already? That was quick." She replied. "Was the girl there?"

"Which one? There were three." I replied without thinking.

"Three!? Ohhhh..you sly dog Jose." Teri replied.

"Yeah, there were th-Wait! That was not what I meant! And since when did you call me Jose?"

"Just now." She replied "So….who do you fancy?" she questioned.

"None. They are my sempai."

"Doesn't mean anything. If they are ripe, pluck them from the tree!" she quipped

"Okay seriously, look at me." I gestured to myself. "Does this face looks like I can get a girlfriend?"

"Did you not have girl problems where you came from?" Aunt Teri questioned.

"And where did you hear that from?" I demanded.

"Who else? Your mother." She replied.

"I give, I'm going to crash. Night." I replied, defeated from the conversation.

"Don't forget! Pluck them from the tree!" She shouted at me while I proceeded to my room.

* * *

><p><strong>Night time (Midnight)<strong>

"**Where am I?"** I thought as I found myself sitting on a sofa in a spacious room lit only by the moon light outside the building.

"**Wait a minute! Did I not just fall asleep just now? I guess that means I'm dreaming." **I thought as I got up and started to survey the room.

The room look identical to the lobby of some cheap 3 star hotel. It had a front desk and a television but the lobby also had a kitchen and a dining table.

"**Seriously! A kitchen in the lobby? What is this place? Why does it feel so familiar and…real?" **as I looked out of the windows though, I saw a brightly lit green full moon.

"A green full moon. I'm definitely dreaming." I finally said.

"_Hi there."_

A voice from behind me startled me as I then quickly turned around to see a ten year old boy dressed fully in clothes with black and white stripes sitting where I was sitting previously.

"_There is no need to be afraid"_ the boy replied. _"I have been waiting for you."_

"What? Waiting?" I questioned.

"_Yes, waiting. It's been a very long time. I have been waiting for your arrival."_

"For what?" I carefully asked.

"_I'm sure you have met them already. Those who share the burden of your predecessor."_

"Prede-you are not making any sense at all! What are you talking about? My predecessor? Are you talking about my father?!" I exclaimed.

"_It is a shame that you do not understand what I'm telling you."_ The boy answered._ "Terrible events are about to unravel soon. The end will come yet again. But then again, fate have be swayed once." _the boy continued to rant.

"**What? Is this kid for real?!" **I looked on in disbelief. "Hey! Answer my question. Where am I? What do you mean by my predecessor?"

"_You will figure that out in due time. Time never waits. It delivers all to the same end. You can't plug in your ears or cover your eyes to escape reality." _The boy said.

"You're still not making any sense…." I signed.

"_Perhaps not."_ The boy chuckled. _"I can't help but wonder. Is it fate? Or could it be coincidence?"_ the boy pondered out loud. "_I will be here when you need me."_ The boy then said, turning his attention to me._ "When the time comes, you will know where to find me."_ That was all I remembered him saying before darkness engulfed me.


	10. Chapter09: ReflowRedux

**Chapter09: Reflow/Redux**

**The next morning**

The dream from last night was still fresh on my mind. As childish as it was, I could not help but question myself if that was just a nightmare or it was a vivid memory.

"**It is virtually impossible for a memory to be so vivid! Could it really be a message?"** I thought.

"**Don't be an idiot Joseph! Since when were dreams real!? If that were the case, cows would fly! "** my common sense started to reason with me. But there was one thing that bugged me; the boy had mentioned "Those who share the burden of your predecessor". What did he mean by that? Predecessor would mean either of my parents but if we are talking Japan, it would have to be my mother. But as far as I could think, the only person I could think of that is close to my mother is Aunt Teri but the boy did say "those" which implied (I think…) that it was more than a single person.

"Morning Terin-san! Why the long face?" a familiar voice called out behind me.

"Huh? Oh err...morning." I replied as I saw the guy quicken his pace to walk beside me.

"It is a too nice a morning to be depressed! So why the long face?" The boy replied.

"Errrr….Who are you?" I had to ask. For such a blunt question though, it sure hit the guy hard.

"What?! You don't recognise me!? I'm in your class dude." The guy replied in disbelief. "I suppose introductions are in order. The name's Kazuki Tadashi. And you are the famous transfer student Joseph Emmanuel Terin. That is quite a mouthful of a name."

"You are not the only one who mentioned it." I muttered as we walked into the school grounds.

"HEY! KAZUKI!" shouted a girl at the school gate, waving at him.

"Ah, morning!" Kazuki replied back as we both walked up to her.

"Joseph, meet Kaori Taiga, my girlfriend." Kazuki boasted.

"KAZU-KUN!" Kaori blush at that comment and started to playfully hit him.

"Nice to meet you." I replied.

"She is also in our class in case you are wondering." Kazuki whispered in my ear.

"You guys came together?" Kaori asked.

"No, I just met him on the way here. So I thought I would say hi." Kazuki replied.

"Oh that is so sweet of you. Anyway, have you seen Keisuke-kun while you were walking here? He owes me my notes on history."

"I saw him a while back... Ah! There he is! HEY KIHARA!" shouted Kazuki as he saw the said person Kaori was talking about entering the school gate.

"Oh, hi." Keisuke replied sleepily.

"My God, you look like a zombie! What time did you sleep last night?" Kazuki asked.

"11 pm."

"Then why do you still look like that?"

"It is just early in the morning. I'm still groggy." Keisuke answered.

_**DING DONG**_

"Well, there is the bell. See you later." Keisuke replied with little (or no) enthusiasm and sulked into the building.

"Is he always like that?" I asked.

"He's always like that, don't worry. Keisuke was never a morning guy." Kaori replied.

"Well, we better get inside or we will be late!" Kazuki said as he quickened his pace and proceeded into the building.

"OH CRAP! My history notes! KEISUKE-KUN!" Kaori, suddenly remembering her notes, ran into the school building to find the said boy which left me to leisurely stroll into the building as the school bells continued to sound throughout the school compound.

* * *

><p><strong>10 minutes ago<strong>

"Haaa! I'm so tired!" Yukari moaned as she walked towards the school building after morning archery practice with her team members.

"Yukari-chan, you sure you don't want to come to Paulownia Mall with us?" One of her team members asked.

"No, it is okay. I have other things to do but thanks for the invite."

"C'mon. It will be fun!" one of the male members insisted.

"I really want to but I have made plans with my friends already." Yukari answered.

"You mean Yamagishi-san and Aigis-san? But you see them all the time!" another member said.

"That's not true. I do see them but I don't really hang out with them as oft-" Yukari stopped midsentence as she rummaged through her bag and realise that something was missing inside.

"Listen, I left something behind. Go ahead without me." Yukari exclaimed as she left the group and sprinted back to the archery field. When she got there she entered the club room and started to frantically look for the object until she saw it, Minato's headphones. She gingerly picked up the headphones and examined them, heaving a sigh of relieve that she had not lost them. Among all the items she owned, she would not forgive herself if she had lost this particular pair of headphones. It was the only thing that reminded her of him. On the day when the members of SEES had to clear Minato's room of his belongings, she had snuck out these headphones for herself. She looked at the headphones and slung it over her neck, just like how Minato did when they were still in his possession, and hoped that he was looking down on them all, the members of SEES and herself in particular.

"Yukari?" A familiar voice called from outside the clubroom. She grabbed her bag and walked out of the room to see Aigis standing outside.

"Hey Aigis. What is it?" Yukari asked.

"I was waiting for you at the school entrance and saw that you had not arrived back with the team from practice, so I came to find you." Aigis replied.

"Oh yeah, I just left something here and I just came back to retrieve it that's all."

"Oh, okay. Yukari, Fuuka just called and asked if you are free today. Apparently it is an urgent matter. " Aigis asked.

"Oh I know what you are talking about. She called me also about that and yeah, I am free today."

_**DING DONG**_

"C'mon Aigis, its lesson time." Yukari said as she walked together with Aigis towards the school building.

* * *

><p><strong>Lunchtime<strong>

"Errr….sorry for calling all of you early in the morning." Fuuka apologised as they all sat down inside the classroom where they usually use for their club activity.

"Don't worry about that but what is the issue?" Junpei asked

"Well….." Fuuka looked troubled. "I got a call from Kurosawa-san today."

"Kurosawa?! OFFICER Kurosawa?" Yukari questioned.

"Yeah, he wanted us to meet him in Paulownia Mall after school today. He says he needs our help." Fuuka continued.

"Is that it? Did he say anything else?" Junpei asked.

"Well, I did ask why us and he said that he needed our expertise in a certain field."

"Certain field? Does he mean our Personas?" Aigis asked.

"I think so too since it is the only thing we all have in common. In any case, I think we should head down to the police station after school today. Is that okay with you guys?" Fuuka asked.

"Fine by me. I'm game." Junpei replied.

"Same here."

"Me too."

"Then it is settled." Junpei then said. "We all go to Paulownia Mall after school today. This meeting is now adjourned." And he then proceeded to slam his fist onto the table where he sat which was met by a deadly silence by the three females all looking at him.

"….I always wanted to do that." Junpei replied.

* * *

><p><strong>At the same time<strong>

"Hey, Joseph! Looking sharp as usual." I looked up from my desk to a familiar sight.

"Oh hey. Kazuki right?" I questioned.

"Oh great! You remembered!" Kazuki exclaimed. "Hey listen, Kaori and I are going to be at Paulownia Mall after school today and I was wondering if you wanted to tag along." Kazuki asked.

"Errrr….."

"Umm, please come." Kazuki whispered "I can't stand around waiting for her as she goes shopping. It's every attached male's nightmare. Please?" he begged.

"Why me" I asked.

"I bet you have not seen Paulownia Mall the entire time you were here. So how about a tour eh?" Kazuki replied. I have been to Paulownia Mall once while I was here but I really did not have the chance to explore the area. And I WAS free after school today….

"….Okay." I sighed.

"Thanks. You are a life saver. I can't go through another day where she has to ask, 'Do I look too fat in this dress'" Kazuki said, mimicking his girlfriend's voice.

"I do not sound like that." The familiar voice of Kaori sounded from behind Kazuki which ended with him receiving a sharp ear twist from his girlfriend while I sat and watched the carnage unfold from my seat.

"OWW! OWW! OWW! OKAY, I GET IT! LEGOO!" Kazuki cried out in pain as Kaori stopped twisting his ear and let go of it. "What were you guys talking about anyway?"

"Oh you know, guy stuff."

"Like porn mags?" Kaori asked innocently.

"Oh god Kaori, can't you just drop that subject?! Why is it that every time I say 'guy stuff' you keep saying porn?" Kazuki exclaimed.

"Isn't it what all guys talk about?" She again questioned innocently.

"He just asked me out to Paulownia Mall since I have never seen the place before." I answered.

"You have not?! You are missing out on all the fun!" Kaori exclaimed.

"I know! It is settled then. All three of us are going to go to Paulownia Mall after school today." Kazuki exclaimed.

"Yes!" replied Kaori.

"Okay." I replied.

"Alright. This meeting is now adjourned." And he then proceeded to slam his fist onto my table.

"….I always wanted to do that."

"**Was that necessary?" **I thought.

* * *

><p><strong>Paulownia Mall (After School)<strong>

"Akihiko-sempai?! What are you doing here?" Junpei asked as he saw the former senior outside the police station.

"Same reason why you are here. I got a call from Kurosawa-san." Akihiko replied.

"Well, no use standing out here and talking among each other." Yukari replied. "C'mon, let's see what Kurosawa-san called us for."

The group then walked into the police station and asked for the said officer and in a minute's time, Officer Kurosawa approached them.

"Thank you for coming at such short notice." Kurosawa said.

"Not to worry but what seems to be the problem?" Akihiko asked.

"We can't discuss this here. Follow me." Kurosawa then led them into an interrogation room and then proceeded to turn off all the cameras in the room before letting them in.

"This morning, we had a visitor. He came here demanding protection from us, says that something's coming for him." He said.

"Is that it?" Junpei asked.

"No, you see, he kept saying that there were these creatures that were hunting for him and that three of his friends were already taken by whatever these thing were. Funny thing is, when asked for his name, he said it was Tatsuya Takahashi."

"What is so strange about that?" Yukari asked.

"The person was reported missing by his family two days ago. From the names he gave me of his friends, I ran a check on the system and found all three of them have been admitted into Tatsumi Island Medical Centre...suffering from Apathy Syndrome. All three of them" Kurosawa replied sternly.

"Apathy Syndrome?" Akihiko replied.

"That is not all, there was a similar incident. That underground pipe explosion under the Tatsumi Moonlight Bridge a few days back. It's the same."

"You mean the explosion that was all over the news? How is it similar?" Fuuka asked.

"The victims caught in the blast reported dead are not dead. All the victims, injured or otherwise, all contacted Apathy Syndrome too." Now this definitely caught everyone's' attention.

"How is that possible?! Apathy Syndrome? But shadows don't appear in the real world! And the Dark Hour doesn't exist anymore!" Junpei exclaimed.

"I don't know what is going on but I don't like it either." Kurosawa said. "The incident of Apathy Syndrome is still fresh in people's minds so the press is keeping it under wraps but if there is indeed something going on, it is starting."

"Is Takahashi still here?" Akihiko questioned.

"Yes, I kept him in a separate room to keep him safe. I can show you."

"Yes please." Akihiko replied. Kurosawa then showed them the way to the holding area where they kept the said person.

"Akihiko-sempai, what is going on?!" Yukari asked while they were walking.

"I don't know. But we need to hear the person's testimony to see if our suspicions are right." Akihiko replied.

"What are you going to ask him?" Fuuka asked.

"What happened." Akihiko answered as they reached their destination and entered the room. In the room, Tatsuya was huddled up in one corner of the room and upon entering the room with Kurosawa, he stood up and angrily demanded "Who are they?! I asked for your protection and you give me kids?! Are you mocking me!?"

"Calm down sir, they are here to talk to you. They can help." Kurosawa replied.

"I demand protection! Are you not the police!?" the male shouted in fury.

"Please calm down sir. These people are here to help you." Kurosawa calmly said.

"What can they do? They are kids!?" The man exclaimed.

"We can help you only if you cooperate Takahashi-san." Akihiko replied "Don't make things harder for yourself and for us."

"You would not believe me, nobody did." Tatsuya angrily muttered loud enough for the occupants in the room to hear.

"If we did not believe you, we would have thrown you into a mental hospital to get you checked up but if you are still here means that there is more than meets the eye on this case, which is the main reason why I brought these people in. You can trust them Takahashi-san. They know a thing or two about what is happening." replied Kurosawa.

"…..Alright, what do you want to know?" Tatsuya answered. Defeated by the ensuring argument.

"Everything." Akihiko replied "Starting from the beginning."

* * *

><p><strong>5 minutes later<strong>

"That is all I know I swear!" The man finally said after recapping his testimony. "He….Sejun, he has gone mad! He killed them all!"

"I see, thank you." Akihiko finally said after a while. "Could you excuse us for a moment please?" at that he beckoned the rest of the SEES members to follow him outside.

"What do you think?" Akihiko asked.

"A Persona, definitely." Aigis replied.

"But I don't understand, how can a Persona absorb another's?" Fuuka asked

"That is what I was thinking too. Is that even possible?" Yukari questioned.

"Wait, you guys are missing the point, how is it possible for a persona to be summoned without an evoker and out of the Dark Hour." Junpei asked

"I'm not sure but it is safe to assume that the shadows are not connected to this." Akihiko replied. "But I'm more concerned about this Persona user Sejun. What is he doing?"

"I don't think we know but if what Takahashi-san said is true, he will be targeted next. He needs to be protected." Aigis replied.

"Right, that we all can agree on. But how are we supposed to do that? If this Sejun guy does come here, the police are defenceless against a Persona user. And we can't really camp here as protection. He might not come at all." Yukari questioned.

"That is true, how are we going to do this?" asked Junpei.

As they were figuring the situation out, all of a sudden, the lights along the corridor they were standing in started to flicker and go out one by one.

"Oh no. Oh very no, that is a bad sign." Junpei started to speak when they heard a scream inside the room.

"INSIDE!" Akihiko shouted. They barged into the room only to be greeted by a dreadful and familiar sight, a sarcophagus standing in the room erect where Kurosawa was standing but shockingly, Tatsuya was still in human form.

"Oh God! He is here! Sejun's HERE!" Tatsuya cried out and huddled into a corner.

"Yukari! Check outside!" Akihiko commanded.

"Okay!" Yukari replied with nervousness in her voice and sprinted out of the room and down the corridor.

"**Please don't do this. PLEASE DON'T DO THIS TO US!" **thought Yukari as she sprinted towards the entrance of the station, greeted by the great number of sarcophagus lined up where people use to be. Tears welded up in her eyes as she could not believe what was happening around her and wished from the bottom of her heart that this was all a dream. She then saw the entrance and burst out of the front door, hoping that she would see a busy and noisy street filled with people. What greeted her though was the sight of sarcophagus lined up where people were supposed to be and an eerie silence lingering in the air.

"No…..no." Yukari fell to her knees and looked around in utter disbelieve at what has unfold before her eyes. There was no mistake, the feeling was too familiar. _**The Dark Hour was back.**_

* * *

><p><strong>At the same time<strong>

Surrounding him were tall black sarcophagus that was lit with the glow of the green moon that was lit in the sky. The air brought an eerie sound of the wind blowing and the still sound of the silence in the air.

"**What the hell is going on!?" **Joseph started to panicked.

* * *

><p><strong>Editors notes:<strong>

**Hi all. It's been a while. Hope you like the story so far! Leave a comment on the story and likes please (It keeps me writing knowing that I have fans out there who like my work). Until next time guys :3**


	11. Chapter10: A Hunter's Playground

**Chapter10: A Hunter's Playground**

**Paulownia Mall**

"**What the hell is going on!?"** Surrounding me was an entire line of black sarcophagus standing upright on the street surrounding Paulownia Mall. Eerie and cold, the temperature of the area seemed to have dropped and it was starting to feel chilly. The light fixtures in the mall were off making the entire place dark only illuminated by the ominous green glow from the fog that was setting in which I swore was not normal.

"What the hell is going on?" I muttered as I approached one of the sarcophagus and started knocking on its surface.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" came a familiar scream inside one of the shops.

"**That voice?!"**"KAORI!?" I exclaimed. I ran into the shop to find Kaori huddled in the corner.

"Kaori! Are you okay?" I knelt down in front of her and held her shoulders with my hands. "Where is Kazuki?"

"I…..I…don't know!" She started to cry. "One thing I was in there and then the lights went off and I thought it was some power outage and then I came out and…..and…."

"KAORI! Don't worry. You are okay and that is what's important but where is Tadashi? Were you with him?" I asked.

"I…..I….I don't know." Kaori whimpered. "He said he was going to be outside with you."

"AH SHIT!" I cursed. "Where the hell have you gone?!"

* * *

><p><strong>A Few Moments Ago<strong>

"-and that was how I meet Kaori! Pretty amazing yeah?" Kazuki exclaimed excitedly as he and I were outside waiting for Kaori as she had stepped into a clothing shop.

"Errr…yeah." I replied. "Hey, Kaori calling you." I pointed out as I saw her trying to call for her boyfriend.

"Oh." He replied dejected. "It might just be one of those 'choose for me cause I can't decide' issues. Will be back." And with that, he walked into the store leaving me alone for the time being.

"**The area is really busy…" **I thought as I looked around the busy mall with people bustling around in and out of shops. Deciding that Kazuki and Kaori would take a while, I decided to gallivant around the vicinity. Unconsciously, I plugged my headphones in and started to listen to some music.

It was about 5 minutes later when I decided to returned to the spot where Kazuki originally left me. Armed with a packet of cream puffs in my hand, I walked back and all the while eating listening to my music, Metallica blasting into my ears. I closed my eyes for a while to loose myself in the music and the next thing I knew, my music was abruptly cut off. I opened my eyes to a completely different scenery of darkness with a pale shade of green.

* * *

><p><strong>Currently<strong>

"Okay, let's not panic. We need to find Tadashi first before we figure out what is going on."

"Okay… but how?" Kaori asked.

"Let's walk around first. If we are lucky, we should be able to find him in no time. I reassured Kaori. "Alright, let's go. Stay close to me."

"Okay…..but-GHH!" Kaori cringed and held her head.

"You okay!?" I exclaimed.

"I'm…..alright."Kaori muttered.

"'Are you sure?" I questioned.

"It's nothing. C'mon, let's find that idiot." She exclaimed. She put up a brave front when she was in pain just now but I could tell that she was not feeling well and I have to admit, I was feeling a little nauseous from just looking at the surroundings.

* * *

><p><strong>Outside the Police Station<strong>

"It's not possible!" Junpei exclaimed. "How can the Dark Hour still exist!?"

"I'm not sure." replied Akihiko. "But if the Dark Hour is back, that means…."

"Shadows." Aigis said grimly.

"Everyone! Look!" shouted Yukari as she pointed into the distance. Everyone looked at where Yukari was pointing but there was nothing there.

"Yukari-chan…" Fuuka began to speak.

"Don't you see it?!" Yukari looked at them.

"We see nothing Yukaricchi." Junpei replied.

"That's the point!" Yukari exclaimed. "Don't you remember?!"

"AHHH!" Aigis gasped. "Tartarus!" It was when it dawned on SEES. Yukari was not pointing at nothing, she was indicating towards the horizon where the once grim, majestic tower stood. During the Dark Hour, Gekkoukan High School transforms into the tower and it is at the summit where the great god Nyx was supposed to descend from to bring about the end of the world at the start of this year. But as Yukari pointed out currently, the tower was surprisingly…

"…not…..there…." Fuuka replied shocked.

"Is that even possible?! For Dark Hour to exist without Tartarus?!" Junpei questioned. "And isn't the time off?! It's not midnight! It's only 6 in the afternoon!"

"I don't know!" Akihiko shouted. "I don't know what is going on but we all know that if the Dark Hour is back, we can expect company soon. Everyone, gear up! We need to protect Takahashi-san. If what he said about this Sejun person is true, then we got a fight on our hands."

"Alright, but we need evokers first!" Junpei replied.

"I have one." Aigis exclaimed as she held one in her hand. "I kept it just in case."

"Where did that come from?!" Junpei yelped.

"From my compartment." Replied Aigis coolly.

"Alright. We have at least two people now who can use persona then. Aigis can summon hers by will but who will use the evoker then?" questioned Akihiko.

"I think its best we alternate its usage amongst ourselves." Yukari pointed out.

"Good idea Yukari. Fuuka, you use it first." Akihiko held out the evoker for Fuuka.

"Okay." Fuuka replied. Holding the gun shaped object to her temple, she pulled the trigger.

"PERSONA!" _**{BANG}**_

The sound of a bullet shattering glass was replaced by an ethereal being enveloping Fuuka in a glass dome of an abdomen followed by the top body of a lady looking to the sky with wings shaped like peacock feathers, a sight not seen in months. Fuuka's persona: Juno

"Why her first Akihiko-sempai?" Junpei questioned.

"It's best we find out what is going on at the moment and Juno is best for the job." Akihiko replied. "We now need weapons. Junpei, Yukari, I need you two to go in the station and find anything that can be used as a weapon. If possible, our usual gear."

"Got it!" They ran into the station.

"Aigis, you're with me. We need to hold the line."

"Affirmative." replied Aigis.

"Akihiko-sempai. I'm sensing nothing." Fuuka called out.

"Are you sure?!" Akihiko questioned.

"I'm su-Wait! Sensing two-no four…..wait, twelve…..What?!"

"What is it?!" Akihiko questioned.

"The count ends at thirty seven."

"Thirty seven shadows?!" Akihiko replied shocked.

"But something is weird, it is li-WHAT?!" Fuuka exclaimed.

"What is it?!" Aigis asked.

"Something is jamming my search ability. Juno can't sense anything further beyond this section of the mall."

"Crap! We can't find Sejun if Juno can't scan the area. We are blind."

"Akihiko-sempai! Shadows! 2 o'clock!" Aigis cried out.

"Shit! Fuuka! Evoker!" Akihiko shouted which Fuuka replied by tossing the gun towards his direction. Akihiko caught the gun and placed it to his temple at the same moment the shadows charged at the group.

"PERSONA!" both Akihiko and Aigis shouted in union._**{BANG}**_

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile<strong>

"…."

"…." It has been a while since we walked but the atmosphere of the area was heavy. Even both of us walking alone awkwardly did not amount to how thick the atmosphere of the area felt like.

"What is this place?" I blurted out after a while.

"It looks like Paulownia Mall but now, I don't know." Kaori replied. "I think the question to ask is: Where is everyone? What are these things?!" she asked as she touched one of the black sarcophagus. "Are they…..coffins?"

"I think the word is 'Sarcophagus' actually." I answered.

"Isn't that Egyptian? How does this look like a sarcophagus? It's a coffin." Kaori answerd.

"Sarcophagus came first. The word 'Coffin' is derived from it." I answered.

"….You seem to be taking this well.." Kaori said.

"Hmm. I don't know…..Somehow this feels…familiar?" I pondered.

"Familiar?" she questioned.

"I don't know, I feel like I experienced this before but I can't remember when…."

"Oh god! Is that….blood!?" Kaori exclaimed. I looked at where she was pointing at and true enough, streaks of red liquid could be seen on the walls and oozing out of the pipes around buildings nearby.

"No comments." I replied, quickening my pace. "C'mon, we need to find Kazuki."

"…..okay…." Kaori replied uncertain and started to walk but as soon as she started, she stopped abruptly.

"Did you just hear that?!"

"Hear wha-" I stopped talking. The sound of slime being dragged across the floor was echoing throughout the entire area and was slowly getting louder.

"What is that noise?" Kaori questioned.

"A snail?" I pondered.

"If it is one, it is one big ass snail."

As if on cue, the creature making the noise materialised out of the blue from the shadows in front of us. Its body was slimy and had a mask for a face.

"Wha-What is that thing!?" Kaori replied shocked. The creature then proceeded forward towards us which were followed up by floating hands with identical mask faces materialising from the shadows the slime creature came out from.

"KYAAAAAA!"

"Run. RUNNN!" I shouted at Kaori as we ran back.

* * *

><p><strong>At the same time<strong>

"10 o'clock!" shouted Aigis.

"Got it!" Junpei replied as he caught the evoker passed to him from Yukari. Placing the gun to his head, he shouted: "TRISMEGISTUS!" _**{BANG}**_.

"Agidyne! Burn them all!" The brilliant flame of the Persona burned the shadows until they were nothing but cinders and ashes.

"Junpei! Behind you!"

"Wha-OH SHIT!" Junpei turned to see a shadow pounce at him. Raising his sword up to defend himself he expected a hard hit form the shadow but the sound of an arrow hitting its target meant that Junpei was instead greeted by the ashes of his adversary.

"Thanks Yukaricchi." Junpei replied.

"Damn it! We can't keep this up for long!" Akihiko shouted.

"Second that! I'm beat!" Yukari replied as she readied her bow and shot a shadow at her side.

"ATHENA! AKASHA ARTS!" _**{BANG}**_ . The ethereal being that is Aigis' Persona unleashed its wrath on the oncoming wave of shadows turning them into a pulpy mass of goo. After that technique though, Aigis slumped onto the floor.

"AIGIS!" Fuuka cried out.

"We can't hold out much longer! How many shadows are there?!" Junpei shouted. "And where is this Sejun person?!"

"Right behind you."

"What th-Junpei!" Yukari shouted. Junpei turned only to be knocked out by the assailant. Walking from behind Junpei was a man in his late 20s dressed in a suit but missing the tie.

"I can't believe I had to work for this! You kids are better than I expected." Sejun began to speak. "You have something belonging to me so why don't you hand him over and maybe, I will spare you a cruel, painful death."

"Not happening." Akihiko shouted and charged at the man. Akihiko raised his fist and attempted to punch Sejun but his fist met the cold hard steel of the side of a katana that was picked up by Sejun from the unconscious Junpei.

"Hahhh….I was so hoping I could solve this diplomatically but you try to use violence to solve this. Stupid brats! You want to die so badly? As you wish." Sejun answered. Pushing Akihiko away with inhuman strength, he then cringed and lowered his head.

"Now that I think about it, those powers of yours are truly powerful to have survived this long. I've decided, you guys would make an excellent addition to my power!"as he lifted his head, Sejun's eyes had turned from its normal black to a dirty shade of yellow.

"_**COME CHARON! FERRY THEM TO THEIR DOOM!" {CRASH}**_

* * *

><p>"HAH HAH. What the hell are these things?!"<p>

"Just keep running!" I answered back. As I looked back, the creatures were hot on our tail and were catching up to us fast.

"**We can't keep running!" **I thought.

_**(BOOM!)**_

The sound of an explosion echoed through the entire area. At that point, the creature that were following us dispersed as if it was scared of something and dove into the nearby shadows. This allowed us to stop and catch our breath.

"What was that?" Kaori asked.

"I don't know. But whatever it was, it spooked those creatures." I panted. That run was exhausting! The thing is, it was only for a short period of time but I was already tired from the run. The same could be said for Kaori too. She was panting in the same manner I was.

"What do we do Terin?" she questioned.

"…..The explosion, let's go there."

"WHA-WHAT!? Are you crazy!? That explosion scared those monsters. What could possibly scare something like that!?"

"We can't just sit here and wait. Those things can come out of the shadows and we will be sitting ducks if that were to happen. The explosion site may be the safest place right now."

"What about Kazuki?! We are suppose to find him!"

"….I think he is fine." I answered.

"How can you be so sure?!" Kaori demanded.

"Just a hunch. C'mon, let's go." I answered. After I said it, another explosion could be heard from the distance.

**(BOOM!)**

"C'mon!" I shouted. We started to run towards the explosion and as we did so, several more explosions happened.

"This path….. I know where we are!" Kaori shouted.

"Where?!"

"We are still in Paulownia Mall! We are headed to the Plaza!" she answered.

We continued to run towards the Plaza and as we did so, the sound of the explosions got louder and louder and it was starting to sound like a war was going on.

"We are getting close! It should be around the corner!"

I turned around the corner and saw a horrific sight. The entire area resembled a war zone. The fountain in the middle of the Plaza was broken and was oozing out the same red liquid as we had seen before. The buildings around the area had chunks of its structure missing but what was more horrifying was that there were people in the Plaza. Familiar faces were lying on the floor, people I recognised.

"SEMPAI!" I ran towards one of them lying on the floor. It was Junpei.

"Hey! Are you okay!?" I asked as I shook my sempai.

"Ghhhh!" I heard a chocking sound from nearby.

"Ohh….who are you?" a calm voice called out. I looked up and in the distance, I saw a business man looking at me and holding someone in his hands, choking the life out of the person. It was…

"YUKARI-SEMPAI! BASTARD! UNHAND HER!" I shouted as I ran towards her assailant.

"Oh you are so vulgar." The man replied calmly again. "Don't they teach you anything in school about respecting your elders?"

"JOSEPH!" I hear Kaori scream in the distance. The next thing I knew was that there was a sharp pain emanating from my body. I looked down to see a ghostly image of a spear protruding out of my stomach. I fell to my knees, feeling weak all of a sudden and slowly, my vision started to blur. I looked back at the man to see an unearthly sight. An ethereal body was floating above the man's head and was in a stance where he just threw something at me. The body then proceeded to move towards me. Grabbing the end of its spear, it propped me high up in the sky and that was when I saw its face. The moulding, decaying face of the ghost as it screamed at me. The face of a Grim Reaper.

"T..eri…n…." I hear Yukari-sempai weakly say.

"Goodnight." The man quipped. _**"FOREVER."**_

The last thing I remember is the feeling of being flung off the spear of the creature and Kaori screaming my name.

* * *

><p>"<em>Hey, wake up."<em>

A familiar voice roused me from my sleep. I opened my eyes and found myself lying on the floor.

"_So we meet again"_ the innocent, sweet voice of a boy answered. I looked up to see a boy dressed in the black and white striped shirt.

"You. You're from my dream." I answered.

"_I'm glad you remembered. Not many can remember dreams as it is."_ I looked around, the surroundings were the same as that dream I had last night. The sofa, tables and the green moonlight shining through the windows. That was when it hit me.

"The light! Its-" I started.

"_Familiar is it not? You are experiencing this in the real world as we speak. I believe they call it 'Dark Hour'."_

"Dark Hour?" I repeated the word.

"_I'm surprised though, I did not expect you to arrive so soon."_ The boy pondered out loud.

"What?"

"_Remember what I said to you the first time we meet? __**'When the time comes, you will know where to find me'**__."_

"I'm sorry?" I asked.

"_You're an interesting person. I might as well take the gamble." _The boy replied. I remember the boy walking over to me and placing his finger on my forehead. Nausea ensured and I remembered darkness.

* * *

><p>"GAHHH!" I gasped as I woke up from my slumber. As I slowly stood up, I was greeted by nearby voices.<p>

"_**IMPOSSIBLE! I KILLED YOU!"**_

"JOSEPH!"

"Te..rin?!"

I felt like a train wreck! My body was heavy and I had the right mind to throw up there and then. An attempt by me to step forward resulted in me falling back to the cold floor again.

"_**AHHAHAHA! LOOK AT YOURSELF! YOU CAN'T EVEN STAND STRAIGHT!" **_a taunt by my sempai's assailant was directed at me. Looking up at the person, I remembered what happened to me and my hands instinctively went to my abdomen.

"**The wound!?...GONE?!" **I thought as I groped at my blood stained shirt.

"_**YOU ARE A PERSISTANT ONE! YOU SURVIVING ONE HIT IS A MIRACLE BUT I DON'T THINK THEY OCCUR TWICE!" **_the man shouted. _**"CHARON! DISPOSE OF THIS INSECT!"**_

A gut wrenching cry echoed across the entire complex as the same creature that impaled me appeared out of thin air from behind the man and began charging towards me.

**"…kill"**

"**What the-" **a voice echoed in my head causing extreme pain to weld up in my head. I clutched it and the voice resounded again.

**"..kill….it…kill..it****"****  
><strong>

"**ARGGG! What are you?! Who are you?!" **I shouted mentally to the voice.

**"kill**** it…kill IT…KILL**** IT!"**the voice in my head chanted. **"****I AM THOU! THOU ART I! OPEN THY EYES! AND SEE WHAT IS WITHIN!****" **

I felt a great power surging into me. It felt strong but at the same time…it felt cold and ruthless. All of a sudden, a single word escaped my mouth as audible as a whisper. A word with no meaning but was everything at the same time.

"Per…so…na." **{CRASH}**

* * *

><p><strong>Editors Notes:<strong>

**I has been quite some time since I last updated the previous chapter. Sorry, but this chapter took quite a fair bit of cancelling and redoing from scratch over and over again so that the story could continue to live up to its expectations. The concept of the {BANG} and {CRASH} is actually the sound effects of a Persona being summoned. The first is the sound effect given by the evoker and the other is the sound of one done manually. Continue reading on and commenting! You will be hearing from me soon XD.  
><strong>


	12. Chapter11: Under A Howling Moon

**Chapter11: Under A Howling Moon**

**A Few Seconds Before (Kaori)**

"JOSEPH!" I screamed. I watched as he was flung off the spear of the creature, slamming into the nearby concrete wall and landing on the floor like a ragdoll.

"**No…..NO…..PLEASE! GET UP!"** I thought. I woke up this morning to the sound of birds chirping outside my window, my mom preparing breakfast for me. Me meeting my idiot boyfriend at the school gate along with Terin for the first time. Me twisting Kazuki's ear, and then all of us ending up here in Paulownia Mall. And here Terin was, lying motionless on the ground.

"**How did it end up like this?! Why?! WHY?!" **I could not move. My knees buckled and I heard myself collapse to the floor. Here I was, just another onlooker, doing nothing whatsoever to help.

"**Don't die! Please don't die!"**

"…..get up…" I heard myself whisper out the words.

"**We still have to find Kazuki together! You PROMISED me! We were all supposed to leave this place together!"**

"….please…..get up." another whisper escaped from my mouth.

"**We had fun today did we not?! We still could have times like this yes?! Get up you ASSHOLE! Don't leave me behind!"**

"…get up…" my voice was getting louder.

"**OH GOD please! If you are out there PLEASE! Please answer back! JOSEPH! DON'T DIE!"**

"…Joseph…please…" I stammered. Tears wielding up in my eyes.

"**You can't die yet! I…need to know you!"**

"…..get up Joseph…"

"**I want to KNOW you!"**

"JOSEPH! WAKE UP!" I shouted.

"…GAHHH!" Joseph gasped.

"JOSEPH!" I cried out.

* * *

><p><strong>Currently (Joseph)<strong>

"Per…so…na." **{CRASH}**

The sound of breaking glass resonated in my mind as I felt power rush out of me, like water pouring out of a broken dam.

"AHHHH!" I shouted. The rush of adrenaline flowed in my body in quantities that made my already weak, heavy body feel as light as a feather. I looked up to see another ethereal body stand in front of me. The creature had a slender shaped body, clothed in a full body double breast cloak. The being had wings that resembled coffins, eight of them, supported by chains that connected to the creature's shoulders and a slender machete-like sword and scabbard to match together with the face of a mechanical jester, its mouth spread wide open like a gapping maw.

"**I AM THOU! THOU ART I! FROM THE DEPTHS OF THY SOUL I AWAKEN! IT MATTERS NOT WHO YOU ARE….DEATH AWAITS YOU.****" **At that moment, the creature that impaled me had closed in on me and raised its spear in preparation to lunge at me. But this time, I was ready. I had prepared to step aside but instead, I heard a familiar voice resound in my head.

"_Go on, use him, use your Persona."_ The voice of the boy from my dreams resonated in my mind.

"**My….Persona?" **I looked at the creature standing in front of me. **"Is he my Persona?"**

I decided to give it a shot. I willed myself to send him out to battle the lunging creature and the inevitable happened. My "Persona" had charged at the foe at an inhumane speed, parried the stab coming at it and grabbed the creature's head and, with the same inhuman strength, flung it into one of the pillars at the side, smashing it into a pile of rubble.

"**WHOA!?" **I was taken aback. This guy was strong!

"**GAHH!****" **I heard the cry of pain from the assailant. **"****CHARON! DAMMIT! SHADOWS! KILL HIM!****"** the creatures that ambushed Kaori and I had materialised from the shadows and lunged at my Persona and started a dog pile on top of him.

"UGGGG!" I staggered as I felt the pain my Persona was experiencing resonating in me.

"Assholes! Take this!" I motioned my hand outwards and that caused my Persona to react. He pulled out the slimy creatures one by one and threw them away from him, causing them to splatter into slimy messes of goo with each unearthly sound of it slamming into a wall. The last one however, he threw it into the air and with a draw of the blade from its scabbard, sliced the creature into half, splattering black masses of goo onto the ground. There was no time for celebration however as the creature named Charon, slammed into my Persona, taking him unaware, slamming him into the nearby wall which I also felt the force of the hit causing me to fly into a wall too.

"ARGGG!" I cried out as my back flared up in pain. The creature Charon then used its spear to try and pin my Persona to the wall but it met with the steel of a blade.

"**SO FEISTY!****"** the business man called out.

"I'm…..not done yet!" I cried out. As I willed it, my Persona pushed the creature away and as Charon was staggering, I had my Persona grab Charon's head with his free hand and head-butt him, causing it to stager again. I raised my hand once more to command the Persona but this time, a word popped into my head and I shouted it out.

"MEGIDOLA!" a sigil appeared in front of my Persona and energy flared up in its hand and in one swift motion, he unleashed the power build up causing Charon to be knocked back into the wall together with his owner where they laid there motionless. At that point, I was breathing heavily. I was getting tired, the adrenaline in my system was subsiding and my original fatigue was coming back.

"**At least I did some damage…." **I thought until the business man stood up and shrugged off the rubble from his suit as if nothing happened.

"**Crap! What the hell is driving this guy?! He's acting as if he is toying with me!"** I raised by hands in a defensive position expecting another hit but the sound of clapping hands startled me.

"**Interesting…..very interesting. Nice that I could play with you for a bit though…..I have important things to deal with at the moment so it was fun while it lasted. OH! I know! Let me give you a parting gift.**" At this, he hunched over and started to go into a series of fits and so did his Persona Charon. All of a sudden, Charon's chest seemed to explode and something had slipped out of the chest cavity of the Persona. Just like a new born baby, the creature was covered in slime and looked as if it was gasping for air.

"**What. The. Fuck?"** I thought. The creature looked like some gigantic female but there were shackles that were tied to it, binding the entire creature like some slave.

"**A beauty is she not?" the man exclaimed "Borrowed this gem off one of my friends. Feisty little one too. Oh! Where are my manners? You guys have not met! Beauty," **he spoke to the creature, **"this is dumbass. Dumbass, this is beauty. Have fun.**"

The creature "Beauty", gave out a high pitch screech that resonated throughout the entire area which made my head spin and I covered up my ears. I looked out the corner of my eye and saw the business man walk into the Police Station.

"HEY! Get back here!" I called out. I ran towards his direction but suddenly, the creature materialised out of the blue in front of me and with a swipe of its hand, it sent me flying in the air but my Persona, as if on cue, caught me in mid-air and helped me land.

"Damn it!" I cursed as I fell to my knees yet again as the fatigue I was experiencing was getting worse by the second.

The creature did not stop there however, letting out another high pitch screech, it lunged at me with impossible speed but this time, I was ready. My Persona had stepped in front of the creature to defend me and they clashed. The teeth of "Beauty" had met the cold hard steel of the Persona's blade.

"PUSH IT BACK!" I commanded to which the Persona obliged. With one swift motion, he had pushed Beauty away and without missing a beat, slashed her and using the sideward momentum of the blade slash, grabbed the hand of the creature and flung her to the far side of the compound where the sound of another pillar breaking said that I did my job.

"Beauty" was screaming in agony and I assumed she did not take kindly to having being cut and thrown at the same time. She looked in my direction and growled at me. In the blink of an eye, she leaped at me again but I was counting on that. Yet again I had my Persona stand in its way but this time, I willed the Persona to sidestep the lunge. Using Beauty's momentum, I added it with the strength of my Persona and it went charging straight into the wall directly in front of it. Leaving a fairly deep hole in its wake. At this point, my Persona disappeared.

I slumped onto the floor at that moment and my vision blurred. I was at my limit already, I was breaking out into a cold sweat and was gasping for air at that point.

"Stay…down….can't…..keep…this…..up." I gasped.

"JOSEPH!" Kaori cried out in the distance as she ran towards me. "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah…I thi-" I started.

**{ROAR}**

**"What the HELL! It's still moving?!"** I looked at the hole that housed Beauty but she was not coming out. All of a sudden, I saw the creatures that ambushed Kaori and I emerged from the shadows and was entering the hole as if they were drawn into it like a moth to a candle.

"What are they doing?" Kaori questioned.

"No…ide…a." I replied weakly. My vision blurred even more to the point where sleeping sounded like a good idea even though warning bells were sounding off in my head.

"What th-HEY! Don't sleep now!" Kaori shook me.

"So…..tir..ed. Can't….keep …..this up." I weakly replied.

**{ROAR}**

Now that roar was not the same one I heard before. It was a roar that sent shivers down my spine and it seems that the air had gotten colder all of a sudden. As I breathe, I could see the vapour escape my mouth.

"What the?" I started but did not finish the sentence. The sound of large footsteps were resonating from the hole. As "Beauty" exited the hole and came into the moon light, I did not recognise it at all. The creature looked more feral in appearance and it did not resemble a human anymore. Its hands looked like it grew longer, the hair that was once straight had changed and was wavy in appearance. If there was anything that stood out, it was the wings that were folded up due to the chains that still held the creature.

"Kaori, leave." I stood up uneasily.

"You can't fight! Look at yourself!"

"I have a better chance at fending off this creature than you. You will just be in my way."

"But-"

"KAORI!"

"….I understand." She stood up and left me alone.

I uneasily started to walk towards the creature, unsure what it was going to do. The creature had its eyes closed ever since it came out of the hole.

"**Those creatures…did it absorb them?" **I questioned myself.

I stopped after a few more paces and stood a distance away from the creature waiting for it to make its move. As if on cue, the creature opened its eyes to reveal a pair of bright red eyes that stared at me as if it was burning a hole in my body. Intimidated by the stare, I took a step back and that was when it lifted its head and gave the same ear splitting cry which this time, produced a strong gale of wind with it as the epicentre of the blast. The sound of falling debris had me leaping sideways to avoid it but what fell where I was a second ago was not bits of the ceiling but….

**"Icicles!?" **I could not help but be surprised. The creature then gave another roar that made me focus back at my adversary as it pounced again.

"PERSONA!" I shouted but this time, no one appeared.

"WHA-? PERSONA!" I cried out again trying to channel the same adrenaline I felt earlier, he did not appear. I was not so lucky this time, the creature had closed the distance between us. With a swipe of its hand, I was sent flying across the compound.

"Gahhh! (Cough)(Cough)" I tasted something metallic in my mouth and looking at the ground I saw the unmistakable sight of dark red spots. I had just coughed out blood, my blood.

"JOSEPH! YOU BRUTE!" I heard Kaori scream at it.

"KAORI! DON'T!" I tried to warn her but it was too late. The creature had turned its attention to the girl and turned its body to face her. Kaori stopped what she was doing and her eyes filled up with fear at the realisation at what she had just done.

"KAORI!" I started to run towards her but my legs suddenly gave way and I fell down again. The creature had started to advance towards Kaori like a predator sizing up its prey. Kaori was scared stiff, she was trying her best to move away but it seems that every step she took was easily closed up by the creature.

"KAORI! RUN!" I warned her but it was like yelling to the wall expecting it to move. Kaori was scared stiff to the point where she did not even hear my warnings. And that was when it happened. The creature pounced.

"KYAAAAAA!"

"KAORI!"

* * *

><p>"…..ATHENA!"<p>

**{CLANG}**

Something had appeared to have stopped the creature. I shook myself out of shock to see a female figure in dress wearing an elaborate roman centurion helmet wielding a large spear together with a revolving shield suspended in mid-air surrounding the figure. It had appeared to have positioned itself between Kaori and the creature.

"Can you stand?" a questioned was asked. I looked up to see a familiar sight.

"Aigis-sempai?!"

"Can you stand?" She asked again. Holding her hand out to help me up which I obliged.

"Yeah. I ca-UGGG!"

"Are you alright!?" She asked. Pain was welding up in my head.

**"Are you worthy?****" **a questioned resounded in my head.

**"What?"**

**"****Are you worthy? If so, say it, say my name!****" **the voice replied.

**"Your…name?" **I replied mentally. **"Are you my Persona?!"**

**"My name! SAY IT!****" **the voice chanted. The pain subsided from my head and I turned to see a concerned sempai holding onto me in case I fell again which I had to admit might have happened had she not held me.

"Yeah. I'm fine now." I answered back. The creature was now struggling with the Persona Athena which made the blond hair senior re-focus her attention to the creature again.

The creature having found new prey, had changed its focus from Kaori and duelled with its new adversary. Aigis-sempai had also joined in the fray and was firing bullets out of her hands. Wait. HANDS? SHOOT!?

I proceeded to start walking and the pain swelled up in my head yet again and the voice chanted yet again.

**"****My name! SAY IT!****" **it repeated. I griped my head as it continued to chant those few words like that was all that mattered to it.

Pain swelled up in my head and the next thing I knew, I saw something. It was a flashback, a vivid memory. A full moon, a creature with many arms, a gun being fired, the swell of adrenaline, the pain of being ripped open and a single line: **"****I am Death. And the cycle begins.****"**

"Your…name….Death…"I whispered. I finally knew its name. My Persona's name.

**"…..So you know me. Very well, my power is yours. Question is, can you use me?****"** the voice resounded and the pain subsided. I looked up to see Aigis battling the creature. She was knocked by the creature and landed right next to me.

"You okay there?" I asked.

"Yes." Aigis replied. The creature had now sized both of us and in one swift motion and roar, broke the chains that bind it and unfurled its wings revealing it in its majestic glory.

"Looks like it just got serious…"

"This is going to be a problem. Can you fight?" Aigis asked me.

"Not a problem." I replied. She then picked up a katana from the floor and handed it to me.

"ATHENA! DIARAHAN!" a wave of restorative energy surrounded me and I felt rejuvenated.

"You are pretty bad at lying…" the senior quipped to which I embarrassedly did not reply. The creature then gave a load roar that sent a gust of wind in our direction.

I felt something land in my pocket at that moment. I dug through my pockets to reveal a dark blue card with a masked face on it. As if on cue, the card glowed with energy.

_[Orgia mode activate. Wild Card specialisation unlocked]_ I heard Aigis-sempai say. I heard the sound of circuitry and engines roar up into overload emanating from her. At the same time, we summoned our Personas at the same instance.

"SURT!"

"THANATOS!" I crushed the card in my hand.

**{CRASH}**

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile<strong>

"Oh God, Oh God, Oh God." Tatsuya huddled up in the corner as he heard the sounds of a demon resound outside of the station holding onto the bitter hope that the kids could protect him from the madman Sejun. All of a sudden, the scream of the demon stopped and he cautiously stood up from his corner and proceeded to the door and gingerly opened it to reveal the face of Sejun standing right outside the door.

**"Tatsuya, I'M HOME!****"**

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"


	13. Chapter12: The Silence of Night

**Chapter12: The Silence of Night**

"SURT!"

"THANATOS!"

**{CRASH}**

The sound of glass breaking echoed in the space as two Personas were summoned and stood in front of our adversary. The creature hissed at both Aigis-sempai and myself as the tables turned into our favour, intimidating the beast.

The creature lunged at us with the same insane speed it harboured before.

"AGIDYNE!" shouted Aigis. Brilliant flames leapt out of the Persona's blade as it was swung down at the direction of the beast causing a wall of fire to be erected in the space in front of us. The creature then leapt backwards and started to pace back and forth from one end of the flame wall to the other end, hoping that it could find an opening in the wall.

"Kaori!" I turned my attention to the girl behind me. "Get Yukari-sempai and the others out of here!"

"But what about you?!"

"The least we can do is distract it." Aigis-sempai answered.

"We will be fine! Go!" I shouted to which I received a nod from Kaori as she ran off.

"…."

"We will be alright…..right?" I lowered my voice, uneasy.

"I can't promise that we will escape this unharmed."

"Fair enough." I faced back at the flame wall which was slowly dying out. I could see the creature on the other side watching us. No way was the creature going to get the initiative this time! It was the time to act.

"Thanatos!" I commanded. My Persona charged straight through the flame wall taking the creature by surprise. My Persona tackled the creature and started to brawl with it. Holding its hands down with one hand, Thanatos started to pound at the creature's face with his other hand while the creature tried it's best to escape the onslaught. It did however regain a dominant position as it held back my Persona and gave him a good kick, causing him to collide with the wall behind him.

"Dammit!" I cried out as the air around us dropped in temperature as the creature summoned icicles from thin air and shot them at Thanatos like bullets.

"SURT!" Aigis commanded which made the Persona advance and with a swing of his flaming sword, he created a whirlpool of shearing hot flames that evaporated the icicles to the point where there was not even a trace of vapour left in its wake.

"OWW! HOT!" I yelped as the intense heat got to me. "Tone that heat down sempai!"

"I'll be sure to remind you the next time I do that then."

There was no time to chat, the creature had regained its fighting stance and roared at us but this time, it was not on all fours rather…..it was standing…on two feet.

"That thing…wait! It could do that?!" I looked at the creature in disbelief as it stood easily on its hind legs overshadowing us with its massive shadow.

"This is troublesome…"

"Got any ideas?" I asked, raising my katana in a defensive position.

"I'm asking you."

"Well I'm asking you!"

"None."

"Wing it?" I pondered.

"Wing it?" The answer I received was more of a question than an answer.

"Thought not…" I griped my katana tighter. "What do we do?!"

The creature roared and started to advance towards us. I acted on instinct.

"THANATOS! TEMPEST SLASH!"

Thanatos lunged at the creature and with a swift draw of his blade, he lunged at the creature and swiftly started to slash at the vulnerable creature multiple times drawing blood. The creature howled and raising its fist, smacked at the Persona out of the air causing him to smash to the ground and disappear.

"GAHH!" I cringed. I forgot that I the pain inflicted on my Persona was shared by me.

"Stand back!" Aigis-sempai commanded. _Persona shift_ "PALLADION!"

The flame sword wielding Persona was engulfed in a brilliant light and was replaced with the image of a maiden in a blue dress whose face, body and headgear was akin to that of a roman warrior but in one swift move, the entire top half of the Persona's body gave way to reveal a hidden mechanical spear. The Persona charged at the creature, knocking it of its feet and impaling it into the wall behind.

"Keep it there!" I yelled at Sempai as I willed my adrenaline for one last push. Energy coursed through my body as I summoned my Persona.

"THANATOS!" I yelled out. The Persona appeared and swiftly drew its sword and proceeded to charge the enemy. The creature though, had other plans. It grabbed Palladion and proceeded to pull her out of its chest and tossed it towards Thanatos who unfortunately collided with the thrown Persona and landed on the ground not quite gracefully in fact. The creature then charged at the two Personas. The two Personas then put up their defences and the creature collided hard into them but even with the two of them, they were still being pushed back by the sheer brute force of the creature.

"Can't hold up much longer!" I struggled to say as I felt the brute strength weighing down on me.

"Me neither!" Aigis replied with a pained expression on her face. "Just….need…space!" She struggled as I saw her Persona overcompensate and tried its best to push back the creature which was working to a certain degree. But no matter what, the creature seemed to be on the winning side.

"**Dammit! We need a game changer!" **I thought to myself. And just when I thought that, a miracle happened. I heard the swift sound of arrows whizzing over my head and landed square on the creatures head and one of the arrows struck its eye. The creature howled in pain and released the Personas from its dead lock and clutched its head in pain. I spun around to see Yukari-sempai armed with a bow in shooting stance.

"You did not forget about us did you?!" she shouted at the creature as it still trashed about trying to get the arrow out of its eye. "What are you waiting for you two?! Finish it!"

"Right! Thanatos!"

"Affirmative! _Persona Shift_ Athena!" We willed both our Personas to move. I have to admit though, it is pretty cool how Aigis-sempai could switch Personas so easily in the middle of the battle.

"Terin! I need you to circle around to its back! We will attack this thing from both sides!" Aigis commanded.

"Okay!" I answered. I willed Thanatos to swivel around the creature and face it on the other side so that Thanatos was directly opposite Athena on the other side of the compound. At the moment, the creature pulled out the arrow from its eye, black blood oozing out of its one eye socket, and not noticing the Personas poised to strike.

"Athena! Charge forth!" commanded Aigis as she willed the Persona to charge at the creature and successfully maneuverer the sluggish swings the creature was sending in her direction. Slamming its massive shield onto the creature's belly, making it fly backwards from the force momentum towards Thanatos.

"Here is your chance! Finish it!"

I didn't hesitate. I willed Thanatos to fly towards the creature from the rear and with one swift draw of its sword, a clean cut was made….

On the back of the creature's head.

The head went soaring into the sky followed by the torrent of black blood arising from the wound akin to that of water gushing out of a fire hose. The head soared in the air for a brief moment before landing onto the floor and disappearing…..no, dematerialising into nothingness. The same could be said for the body as it dematerialised in the same manner as the head. In that instant, all was silent.

"Hah." I heaved a sigh of relief.

"Is it…..over?" Kaori called out of the blue.

"I think so.." Yukari replied as she helped a recovering Junpei and Akihiko to their feet.

"_GASP!_ The man! Sejun! Where is he?!" Fuuka called out as she surveyed the area for the man. Akihiko and Junpei were the first to react and ran into the building with the words "Police Station" inscribed on the top of the door.

"**!****!?"**

Before I knew it, I was falling towards the ground and my vision blacked out.

* * *

><p>I woke up to voices sounding off in the distance.<p>

"…..beth please, think of your role here. This thought of yours is reckless!"

"The master said nothing of the matter! So it is clear that he did not object!"

"Our role here is absolute. You can't possibly think about such trivial business!"

I slowly opened my eyes and found myself standing in a room surrounded with the colour blue. Cloth of the colour were draped over almost every furniture in the room and the colour was so consistent that it was giving me a massive headache just looking around. In the middle of the room however stood two people dressed in garments of the same colour as the rest of the room and sitting on the couch was a short man with a very long nose dressed in a black tuxedo making him stand out from the rest of the room. It seems I am witnessing an argument at the moment.

"Trivial!? I'll have you know what I wish to do will be worth the risk!" The female answered back at the male.

"The risk? So what you are planning to do will have you involved with something dangerous will it not?! You just said it yourself!" The male retorted.

"ENOUGH! I will not tolerate anything more from you!" The female shouted and turned towards the long nose man sitting on the couch. "Master! I need to hear you say it. Will you let me go? Or…." The girl started to trail off from her sentence. On wondering why, I looked at her and realised that she was staring up…

Right in my direction.

"Well now, it seems we have a guest." The long nose man finally spoke. Looking up, I saw his face. Hideous seems to be the word I would use to describe the man's face. He did not have scars on his face or anything but the way he was grinning together with that long nose of his made him hideously creepy.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." The man invited me. "My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. These people you see standing behind me are Theodore and Elizabeth." He introduced both respectively.

"…Please to meet you." They both answered respectively.

"This is a place that exists between dream and reality, mind and matter." Igor continued. "This is a place where only those who have signed a contract can enter. Tell me now, have you signed the contract my dear guest?" Igor questioned me and at the same time, gestured me to sit on the chair opposite him on the other side of the table.

"A contract? No?" at my answer of no, Theodore and Elizabeth cast at each other nervous glances.

"Hmmm. Is that so?" Igor pondered without pause. "If that is the case, then the services we provide unfortunately can't be used by you. But fret not, to enter this place means you may need to rely on us in the near future."

"I'm sorry?" I questioned.

"For now, let's say us meeting here is a form of greeting. I will be seeing you again sometime soon, for time marches on in your world and I dare say you have overstayed your welcome. Hehehe." Igor smirk was the last thing I saw.

* * *

><p>"…" The disappearance of the guest from the Velvet Room left the three residence speechless.<p>

"….Elizabeth" Igor finally spoke.

"Yes master?" Elizabeth answered.

"As per your request to leave the Velvet Room, I am now against it."

"May I know the reason why?" Elizabeth questioned.

"It seems your services are still needed. Theodore, you will stay too. It seems this room will be busy for a while…"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

**Sorry I could not upload this earlier. I have been busy as of late. Here is a little bio about the Protagonist for you guys.**

**Joseph Emmanuel Terin:**

**Race: Japanese/Chinese mix**

**Sex: Male(if it was not obvious)**

**Height: 172cm**

**Hobbies: Sleeping, listening to gossip**

**Like: Any cold beverages, any season other than summer**

**Dislike: hot beverages, summer, really spicy food items**


	14. Chapter 13:The Freedom Of Speech

**Chapter13: The Freedom of Speech**

**Early Morning**

"…Mhhhhh…." I lazily moaned as I woke up from my sleep and shifted in my bed. I had a good sleep last night.

"…**..my phone….what time is it?"** I thought as I slowly shifted my body and made my way to the edge of the bed and blindly reached my hand out to the table where I usually left my phone. In my blind reach, I successfully grabbed an object only, it was not hard. My hand had landed on something soft and round in shape.

"**Huh…what is this?"**

I grabbed at the object. The soft object was springy and not round but was a curved surface.

"What are you doing?!" a voice called out from my arm's direction. I opened my eyes and adjusted my eyesight to see who said that.

"Kaori?" my vision cleared up enough to see that Kaori was sitting at the side of my bed. She was blushing crimson red.

"What are you doing in my…" I looked down now at where my hand was and it was stretched out in her direction and it had reached out and had grabbed something.

It was her chest. My hand had landed on her chest.

"….room…" I stared at what I had just had transpired between the both of us and what I had just done. A total time of a minute in silence elapsed before I gingerly removed my hand from Kaori's chest.

"I am so so-" I started to apologize.

"DIE!"

_(SLAP)_

* * *

><p><strong>? Minutes Later<strong>

"OWWW…" I sat upright and looked around the room. Kaori was still in the room and she was fuming mad and blushing while protecting her chest with her hands. It seems her slap rendered me unconscious.

"…" she glared at me.

"….If it makes you feel any better. They felt impressive."

_(SLAP)_

* * *

><p><strong>Another ? Minutes Later<strong>

"OWWW…" I sat upright on the bed as I massaged my jaw. Kaori's slap had me unconscious immediately after I had woken up this morning. The day was only just beginning and she had rendered me unconscious twice.

"You know you should not have done that." Yukari-sempai said as she handed me an ice pack.

"It was an accident." I signed. It seems that it was not just me and Kaori in the room at the time of the incident but Sempai was also in the room. And I am not in my own room; I am in a hospital.

"But seriously, you were out cold for two days. You had all of us worried there."

"What happened? Where am I?"

"Tatsumi Memorial Hospital. Akihiko brought you here."

"I don't… why am I here?" I questioned.

"Do you remember what happened?" Sempai asked.

"Remem-!?" A sharp pain hit my head as I recalled what happened.

The memories came like a torrent of water flowing at incredible speed. Green mist, Darkness, Erect Coffins, Disfigured creatures, Pain, Blood…

_**Persona**_

"What did I do? What is happening?!" I felt disorientated all of a sudden.

"Relax," Yukari-sempai placed her hand on my shoulder as she leaned in. "most people who awaken to the power feel disorientated at first. Memory loss usually occurs as a side effect."

"Power?"

"The thing you summoned that night. We call it: PERSONA"

"Per..sona?"

"Yeah. There are a select few who wield such a power. You….WE are the few."

Questions exploded in my mind like a firework. There was so much I wanted to ask but the questions were stuck in my throat.

"What happened? How did I end up here?" I ended up asking.

"I should fill you in on the details but you need some rest. I will explain everything later."

"You owe me an explanation!" I exclaimed.

"Not in your current state. I promise I will tell you everything when you are well."

"….I will hold you to that promise." I relented.

"I keep my promises. School starts soon. I better get going." Yukari-sempai looked at her watch and stood up but not before she looked at me with nostalgic eyes.

"**?"**

"Do you have to resemble him so much?" She silently said before exiting the room leaving me pretty confused at what she meant.

* * *

><p>The nurse that came in later said that the reason I fainted was due to extreme fatigue and that I should not worry about after effects so I was allowed to be discharged early. Oddly, I said I wanted to go to school but she said the doctor discouraged me from doing so in case I relapsed. But I did receive an unfortunate surprise at the hospital….<p>

"Jose-kun!" The all familiar voice resounded in the hallway.

"**Aww shit!"** The all too familiar voice coupled with the foreboding sound of high heels walking on the hospital floors echoing down the corridor made the person easy to distinguish. A person I wish not to see now.

"Aunt Teri…" I turned around but was met by a bear hug (of some sort) by my aunt.

"How are you!? I was so worried! Oh, what were you doing that you ended up in that state?!"

"Wait, how did you…" I stopped mid-sentence after thinking. Yukari-sempai said that I was out for two days, it would have been natural that Aunt Teri would have noticed that I was not at home and was worried about what happened. But how did she know I was in the hospital and not somewhere else? Ken? Did sempai contact Ken to tell Teri? That was when I took a good look at what my Aunt was wearing at that time. She was wearing a lab coat like the doctors around here and with a tag that read…

"Doctor Akashi?!" I read it perplexed. "What?!"

"Ohh yeah!" Aunt Teri replied "You don't know what I do for a living!"

"So that's how you knew…"

"I was working late in ER when you came in. You were in a messy state. What happened?"

"I….don't know. I can't remember." I slowly replied.

"That hunk who carried you in said you were mugged. Honestly though, I think it might have been something else."

"Hunk? You mean Akihiko-sempai?" I replied surprised.

"Can't remember the names of the people who came in. But they were quite worried about you."

"I take it you are the doctor in charge of me?"

"Of course."

"So about me going to school…"

"Take that time off. Doctor's orders." Aunt Teri replied.

"You of all people know that I look well enough."

"Do you know how many kids your age would die for a doctor's leave slip like this?"

"….fine….doctor's orders."

"If you want, I can make it so you are absent for two weeks." Aunt Teri said this as she pulled out her slip and pen to start writing.

"NONONONONO!" I rapidly yelled out while trying to stop her from doing just that. "A day is enough!"

"You are no fun at all." Aunt Teri signed in dismay as she placed the pen and paper back into her lab coat. "You are too serious and uptight. Girls like guys who are more open."

"If you say so." I replied.

"Oh yeah! While you were out I took the liberty of measuring you." Aunt Teri said as she produced a series of reports from the clipboard she was holding on to.

"Is there something wrong with me?" I questioned.

"No, but…" At this, the all familiar glint of evil was seen in her eyes as she grinned with malicious intent.

"Aunt Teri." I became extremely worried. "What did you do to me?!"

Teri just grinned as she turned to walk away.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?" I called out to her. Honestly, I never felt in more danger for my well-being before than at this moment.

**I think my Aunt just raped me…..**

* * *

><p><strong>Editor's Notes:<strong>

**Hope You all enjoy this chapter. Comedic I know! Hope for your comments and see you soon!**


	15. Chapter 14: Unanswered Questions

**Chapter14: Unanswered Questions**

**The Next Day **

"Hey, err… Joseph." Kazuki whispered to me.

"…what?"

"Did you by any chance get in a quarrel with Kaori recently?" he asked. We were in the middle of history class at the moment and Mr Ono was stressing and fussing over some weird era of samurai.

"….." I looked over to Kaori's desk where she was seated and saw her scribbling notes into her textbook.

"…What makes you think that?" I finally whispered back at him.

"I mean, I saw the way she blew you off at the gate." Kazuki answered. "That's not normal."

* * *

><p><span><strong>In The Morning<strong>

"Morning Terin-san."

"Oh. Morning Fushimi." I answered back.

"Are you okay? I heard you weren't well for a while." She asked.

"Errr….It was a mild fever. Nothing to go stressing over with." I quickly replied.

"Well that is not good. You should be more careful with your health."

"Yeah. Thanks for the advice."

"Hey! Joseph!" shouted someone from the distance.

"**Ahh. It is Kazuki. Why am I not surprised?"**

"Hey." I replied as I walked up to him.

"Morning! You looking better!" he strongly patted me on the back. "Man, when I visited you at the hospital the other day, you looked like shit." At this sentence, I flinched.

"Ehhh!? Hospital!? Was it not a mild fever?!" Chihiro replied shocked.

"Kazuki…" I stared at him **"Don't say another-"**

"Don't know what happened but if someone is lying down unconscious on hospital bed, it is usually not a good sign." Kazuki replied, ignoring the stare from me. Chihiro then proceeded to look at me for an answer to what Kazuki just said but I could only just keep quiet hopping for a way out of the situation.

"Oh! Kaori! Morning!" Kazuki called out to the girl walking towards us.

"**SAFE!"**

"Oh! Morning Kazu!" She smiled at her boyfriend as she replied to his calling.

"Morning Kaori." Chihiro bowed her head to the girl.

"Morning Chihiro." Kaori did the same.

"Morning Jo-" she started to call my name but immediately stopped mid-sentence.

"?" I looked at the girl. She then, without a word, turned and walked away, passed Keisuke at the lockers and wished him good morning. This left me, Kazuki and Chihiro staring at the girl's back dumbfolded.

"…good morning?..." I finally whispered out. As if on cue, both Kazuki and Chihiro turned to face me with questionable looks on their faces.

"**Crap!"** I now had not one but TWO people demanding answers from me.

* * *

><p>"I need an answer now!" Kazuki whispered "Did something happen?!" Unfortunately, I have been dogging the question for a while now and I think the suspense is killing him.<p>

"I won't say anything unless Kaori says anything." I repeated the sentence for the millionth time.

"Rrrrrrr…You both are like two peas in a pod! Is it that hard just to share information with a friend?" Kazuki moaned in frustration.

"**If you did happen to find out what happened between me and your girlfriend, I wonder if you still have the guts and willpower to call me a friend…" **I silently told myself. I glanced at Kaori's desk and I caught a glimpse of her sneaking a peak at where I was seated and immediately turned to face forward when she thought I was looking.

"**Looks like she is still pissed about that groping issue…"**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Lunchtime<strong>

"….hey.."

"Hmm?" I was seated at my seat eating my lunch and daydreaming at the same time when unexpectedly, Kaori came over to talk to me.

"…..Sempai wants to meet both of us after school at the rooftop during activities time today..." She spoke and all the while, trying to avoid looking at me

"….err….sempai? Who?" I questioned.

"Yukari." Kaori answered.

"I see…" I refocused my attention to my lunch.

"…th…that is it." She then proceeds to walk away.

"Is that really it?" I then asked her. Kaori stops in her tracks with her back facing me.

"…..ord." I heard her whisper after a while.

"Pardon?" I had to ask.

"Not a word." She replied louder this time. "Not a single, damn word to Kazuki!" she half turned her head to slightly reveal a magenta bright, flushed face.

"….alright." And that was the end of the matter.

* * *

><p><span><strong>After School<strong>

"We're here." I announced to the sempais as me and Kaori exited from the staircase.

"Oh great! You are both here." Yukari called out. Junpei, Aigis and Fuuka were also there.

"What is this about?" Kaori called out to the sempais.

"Answers." Yukari replied. "An answer to all your questions. Especially your questions." She looked at me when she said it.

"I promised you answers to your questions when you were better. Now that you are, I intend to uphold my promise."

Questions of mine were left unanswered when I was in the hospital but nothing made me more frustrated than to not know what happened. So I asked the most obvious question in my head.

"What happened that night?" I asked.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Three Nights Ago<strong>

"TERIN!" Kaori ran to Joseph as he collapsed to the ground. Yukari heard the cry and looked back to see Joseph in the embrace of Kaori. She then hurried to Kaori's side.

"Joseph! JOSEPH! WAKE UP!" tears streamed down Kaori's cheeks as she shook Joseph in the hopes that he would wake up.

"It's alright." Fuuka then said as she approached Yukari and Kaori. "He's alive."

"Alive…" Yukari repeated. "Thank God…"

"For now, I think we should get him to lie down somewhere first." Aigis then approached the group. "Let's regroup in the station at the moment."

Carrying Joseph's body, the girls then entered the station and then Fuuka summoned Juno to help perform an analysis on Joseph.

"How is he?" Kaori asked after a while.

"He should be okay. He collapsed from fatigue." Fuuka replied.

"Thank goodness." Kaori exclaimed as she held onto Joseph and promptly fell asleep.

"I don't blame them for doing so." Yukari then said. "The Dark Hour can be pretty brutal to those experiencing it for the first time. Not to mention the amount of mental fatigue these two had to put up with."

"What is happening?" Fuuka then asked.

"I can't believe it is the same as last time." Aigis then said as she closely examined one of the coffins in the station. "Dark Hour….what are you?"

All of a sudden the lights in the station flickered on and soon, the station that was once dark and gloomy, was now packed with activity. Aigis now stood face to face with a man that was once the coffin she was examining in extremely close proximity.

"Wha?!" Aigis exclaimed.

"Who?!" The man replied.

"Huh?!" Yukari exclaimed.

"How?!" Fuuka exclaimed.

"HEY! GIRL! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" an officer called out.

"Huh?" Yukari questioned. "Me?"

"YES, YOU! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING BRING WEAPONS INTO A POLICE STATION?!"

"Weapons? OH CRAP!" Yukari looked down to see that she was still holding on to her bow.

"KYAAAAA! THAT GIRL IS HOLDING ONTO A SWORD!" a woman from the crowd cried out.

"Huh?!" Aigis looked at her hand and true enough, she was still holding onto the sword Joseph dropped when he collapsed.

"YOU TWO! DROP THE WEAPONS AND HANDS BEHIND YOUR BACK!" Another officer said while pointing a gun at the both of them.

"Whoa! Easy there. We want no trouble." Yukari raised her hands in a form of surrender.

"I SAID WEAPONS ON THE GROUND!" A few more officers inside the station joined in the fray and raised their guns at the girls.

"Errr…Ahahaha." Yukari nervously laughed.

"ENOUGH! STAND DOWN!" A voice called out from inside the station. Officer Kurosawa together with Junpei and Akihiko walked out from behind the officers.

"The girls are with me." Kurosawa said.

"But sir-" One officer started to speak.

"I said ENOUGH!" Kurosawa repeated. At this, all the other officers slowly placed their weapons back in their holsters.

"Yes sir…"

"Return to your designated posts, I'll handle this matter." At this order, the station returned to its normal daily routine.

"Takahashi is gone." Akihiko replied sternly.

"What?!" The three girls replied in union.

"Okay. When we mean gone, we don't mean 'disappeared into thin air'" Junpei added.

"What do you mean?" Fuuka asked.

"We are saying he is gone mentally. Mr Takahashi has contracted Apathy Syndrome." Akihiko replied.

"Then the man Sejun, is he…" Aigis then asked.

"Nowhere to be found." Junpei answered.

"So he shows up and then disappears without a trace… who is this Sejun?" Fuuka ponders

"I think you are thinking about the wrong thing here Fuuka." Akihiko added. "I think the question we need to ask is staring us right in the face." He added while looking around. The station was not without activity and outside, they could see the busy street of Paulownia Mall jostling with activity.

"What is going on here? Why is the Dark Hour back?"

* * *

><p>"We brought you two to the hospital to recuperate. Kaori here woke up the next day however, you just continued to sleep for another two days." Junpei concluded the story.<p>

"I see… that does explain most of it." I answered back.

"But what happened back there? What were those creatures?" Kaori asked.

"What happened back there? Errr… how do I say this." Junpei pondered.

"What if we told you a regular day was not limited to a mere 24 hours." A familiar voice called out from behind us. Turning around, we saw Akihiko and…

"Ken?! What are you doing here?" I asked shocked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing. But I think the answer is quite obvious." The kid replied.

"Ken! Sempai! You made it." Yukari called out to them.

"Had to pick Ken-kun here at the entrance." Akihiko called out.

"Not limited to 24 hours?" Kaori questioned.

"That's right. What if we told you there was a hidden hour? An hour not seen or known by man."

"A hidden hour?" I questioned.

"Think back to that night, was something not off? The lights were not working, blood was everywhere. It was as if you were in a different time." Akihiko continued. "That is what we call the Dark Hour. An hour out of sync with reality and time. Almost like the hour is an entity by itself."

"But that is not what makes the Dark Hour dangerous, it is the creatures that roam the streets during that time. You have seen it with you own eyes. Those creatures, we call them Shadows." Yukari then added.

"Shadows…" Kaori muttered.

"The best part of this though is that there are rare but few individuals who have the ability to roam free during the Dark Hour. Among these special individuals, some obtain the ability to combat these Shadows. The ability is known as _**Persona**_." Akihiko concluded. Pointing to me, he added. "It is the same ability you harnessed and summoned that night."

"And….. you are telling us this because we are special?" I summarised

"That and because we need your help. We all here share a similar trait, we all can summon Personas." Aigis replied.

"We were once known as S.E.E.S. The _**Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad. **_On paper, we are a school club but our true purpose was to hunt and eliminate shadows." Akihiko explained.

"But if Shadows only appear during the Dark Hour, is it not safe during normal hours?" I asked.

"Often, shadows have the ability to call people from reality and lure them into the Dark Hour. Creatures like that don't discriminate who is good or bad. They see mankind as a food source."

"Another question, why 'were' you a club?" I asked.

"We were dissolved. We thought we were done with shadows and such had no need to keep the club going also, we lost….allies…in the fray." Yukari explained.

"I see."

"You want us to join you to what? Kill these Shadows?"

"We're asking you because we need help, more than before." Akihiko replied. "The person we are pursuing is stronger than we expected. Evident from the battle that took place nights ago."

"…." Both Kaori and I remained silent.

"Ah! We are not asking you to join us if you are uncomfortable with the idea, it's just that we do need the help and you both are the best hope we have with your Personas and such." Fuuka consoled us.

"Persona? I thought you said I had on-WAIT! Kaori has one?!" I replied shocked as I turned to look at the girl.

"….yeah….I think." She slowly replied.

"She was active during the dark hour so I had her run some tests and true enough, she has the potential." Akihiko said.

"Potential?"

"To summon a Persona."

"**So you too huh?"**

"Errr….can I…say something?" Kaori spoke up.

"?"

"I'm…not comfortable with all this….Shadow business."

"Me too." I answered. "Could you give us some time to think this through?"

"Of course. We won't pressurise you to join us." Yukari replied.

"Then if you could excuse us." I politely said my goodbyes and with Kaori, we left the seniors(and Ken) on the rooftop.

* * *

><p>"Sanada-san, Yukari-san, is it really okay to leave them to think about it?" Ken asked after Joseph and Kaori left.<p>

"I think it is better this way. If they don't join us, it is for the best." Akihiko replied. "I won't let anyone else die from this."

"On that, I agree with you." Junpei exclaimed.

"And I with you." Aigis replied

"So what are you going to do if they don't agree to join us?" Yukari questioned.

"Well, I did plan that it might happen." Akihiko replied as he took out his cellphone and made a call.

"Who are you calling?"

"If the case is about Persona and Shadows, then there is only one person who knows these issues from the back of her hand."

"You don't mean…" Junpei replied shocked.

"Yeah. I think it is high time she got to know about what is happening here. Let's hope Mitsuru is not too busy."

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Notes:<strong>

**The plot thickens. Sorry I did not post this chapter earlier. Was in Japan researching (and having fun) and forgot my laptop.**

**I had some people ask me about Aigis' Persona of Athena and Palladion so I will give you all the lay down:**

_**As most of you know, during the Answer episode of the FES, Aigis awakened to her wild card specialization and such I decided to give it a little twist.**_

_**Since the main character could access his/her initial Persona of Orpheus through the compendium, why can't Aigis do so with her initial Persona Palladion?**_

_**We know for a fact that in the game itself, both Personas carry the same ability and techniques. The two Personas in my story share similar stats(abet different values) but the techniques each Persona carries is different. Making both Personas unique in their own way. Aigis is also able to summon both Personas without using the Wild Car Specialization since they both are her original Persona **_

**That sums it up more or less. Keep reading and commenting!**


	16. Chapter15: Dream A Little Dream

**Chapter15: Dream A Little Dream**

**Midnight**

I was exhausted from the train ride to Iwatodai. It soured my mood even more that my mp3 player died the moment I arrived at my destination, and I was pretty darn sure I had at least 3 of the 4 bars lit up. As I walked out of the secluded train station, I suddenly realised that the environment had changed. The atmosphere was eerie and felt as if a crushing force was trying to explode from within my body. I then glanced at my cell phone and what do you know, it's dead as well. But if memory served me right, the station intercom said that it was midnight.

I pondered.** "Since I'm usually asleep by midnight, maybe this is what happens all the time when the clock strikes twelve. Or maybe I'm just that tired..."**

I proceed towards the direction of Hanatoda street, the place where my new living quarters would be. The roads and paths were all littered with numerous, towering, erect coffins. The stench of blood was strong and it made me a little bit dizzy.

"**I must be more tired than I thought. Blood? What's with all the blood brain?"** I quicken my pace, hoping to reach the dorm soon.

"**Maybe I could sleep this off and awake with breakfast in bed and a beautiful girl cuddled up against me….as if! "** Taking a left turn at the corner, I might have literally ran the remaining distance and reached the dorm. The doors were tall and large, occupying almost, if not most of the wall. I finally decided to enter after a few seconds of staring at the door.

The lights were off and the dorm was extremely dark. I could barely make out anything beyond a couple of feet away.

"There should be a light switch somewhere…" I muttered as I proceeded to grope around in the darkness.

"_You're here."_

"**!?"** I looked in the direction of the voice. It was dark that is for sure however, I could most definitely make out the pale, little boy with huge blue eyes and black, curly hair that stood behind the counter. He grinned, _"I've been waiting a long time."_

"**Long time? For what? Nevermind, I don't wanna know, nor do I care. I just want to hide under my bed and be done with this. Now where is that light switch?"**

The mysterious boy held out a file. He waved at me to come over, and stupidly enough, I did. Walking over to the counter, I glanced at the content of the file as the boy explained, _"If you wanna proceed, just sign here."_

I arched up my eye brow. The boy shrugged, _"It's a contract that says that you'll take full responsibility for all your actions. Same-o, same-o. Aren't all contracts similar?"_

Nodding vaguely, I looked at the contract to see what was written down. All it read though was: _**I chooseth this fate of my own free will and will take responsibility for all of my actions**_. I signed my name unto the dotted line. I was pretty sure that I was now either dreaming or hallucinating. Bloody streets, coffins, mysterious little boys in prison clothing asking for my autograph, this was all an insane dream…or hallucination if you look at it in another light.

"**Are we done now?" **I thought.

The boy smiled. He picked up the file and held it against his chest protectively_, "Time is something no one can escape from. It delivers us all to the same, tragic end. You can't plug your ears or turn a blind eye. "_

I stared at the boy. He was saying something no one his age would say, or should say. The boy disappeared, and then re-appeared near the lounge table_, "Wishing for it to end, wishing for it to pause or stop. It won't work. It won't go away."_

_**"And so it begins."**_

I started to felt a little uneasy. **"Was this all really just a dream? The encounter was too surreal."** I rubbed the back of my neck, sighing. Suddenly, a female voice came from the shadows, "How can you be... B-but it's...!"

"?" I looked around and true to the nature of the voice, I saw the silhouette of a girl standing in the shadows

I was about to introduce myself when the girl took a step back glared back at me as if I was some kind of dangerous animal, "Don't tell me...!"

"Errr..." I started, but the girl didn't seem to hear me. She reached down to her thigh and snapped up a silvery, metallic object. I strained my eyes to look at it when all the blood flowed away from my head.

"**A GUN?!"**

"Wait!"

The girl turned her head to the direction of the newcomer's voice. I heard footsteps walking down from a staircase not far from where the girl with the gun was

Just as the footsteps stopped, the lights suddenly came back on. The girl with the gun mumbled to herself, "The lights..." Now that the lights were on, I could see the features of the girls quite distinctly.

"I didn't think you'd arrive so late." The girl with the flame-red hair smiled, "My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm."

I acknowledged. "I'm sorry for the delay. The train ran into some troubles."

Mitsuru assured me that she understood, she then gestured to the brown-haired girl at her side, "This is Yukari Takeba, she'll be a junior this spring, just like you."

I muttered a soft 'hey' at Yukari. She returned the gesture, but uneasily and almost reluctantly. The girl Yukari cleared her throat and poked at Mitsuru, whispering softly, "Uh... Who's he?"

"He's a transfer student. It was a last minute decision to assign him here. He'll eventually be moved to a room in the boys' dorm." Mitsuru explained nonchalantly.

"I see." Yukari looked a little pissed. She asked again, "...Is it okay for him to be here?"

"**You do know I'm standing here?" **I cocked my eyebrow. Mitsuru chuckled, "I guess we'll see."

I felt left out, and these two girls were simply gossiping about me right in front of my nose. I was really tired so I asked abruptly, "Um, is it okay if I went to see my room? I'm a little tired from the long ride here."

"Oh, not an issue," Mitsuru nodded, "Yukari would bring you to your room."

I saw Yukari shoot Mitsuru a glare before she turned towards me, "Alright, let's head up then." She arched her brow at my duffel bag, "Since you have nothing with you, I'm guessing that your stuff is already in your room?"

"I was told that they arrived two days ago," Both me and Mitsuru shrugged.

Yukari threw her hands up in frustration, "Nobody tells me anything anymore!" I could not help but chuckle a little bit at the sudden outrage.

As we climbed up to the second floor, I was told that the third floor was the girl's floor and that it would be advisable not to hang up there if I valued my life. Yukari took me right to the end of the corridor and she stood in front of the very last door, "This is it! Pretty easy to remember, since it's right at the end of the hall."

She folded her arms as she explained certain rules and regulations, she even took the initiative to inform me of the certain unspoken rules around the dorm, such as no stealing protein drinks from the fridge because they all apparently belonged to a certain Akihiko Sanada-senpai. And also if I found strawberry cakes in the fridge, I was advised to stay away from them too because they're probably hers'.

"**Cake…." **I couldn't help but drool mentally at the thought of cake.

"Oh yeah, make sure you don't lose your key, or you'll never hear the end of it... So, any questions?" Yukari asked, her voice trailed off a little.

"**Yeah! A lot!"**

"Nope." I answered.

"Alright! Then that is all." She then proceeded to walk away but after a few steps, she turned around just as I was unlocking the door and ask, "Hey um... Can I ask you something? On your way here from the station, was everything okay?"

I paused for a while, but I tried replying coolly, "It was fine."

"I see... Nevermind then."

"Good night." I smiled politely.

Yukari couldn't help but smile back, "Y-yeah, good night. You've got a big day tomorrow, huh?"

"Yeah, first day of school," I sighed dejectedly, "Soooo excited."

Yukari laughed, she waved back at me as she headed back to her room, "You'll get used to it."

I watched her disappear up to the stairs. I then unlocked my door, threw my duffel bag at the corner of the room and collapsed on my bed and sighed heavily.

**"Get used to it? Yeah, I already am."**

* * *

><p>Joseph jolted up from his bed. He felt disorientated and sick at the same time. He then grabbed his clock from his desk that was next to his bed and looked at the time.<p>

"….3.24am…" He signed.

"**It was all just a dream…"** He signed and collapsed back on the bed. It was so surreal, the dream was like that night days ago.

"?!. Wait! That kid." He jolted back up. **"The kid who passed me that contract in my dream, it was the exact same kid who chatted with me in that other dream! And that time I was dying! And the dorm! It's also where I met him each time!"**

It was like fixing a puzzle. The pieces were coming together. But something was still nagging Joseph.

"Yukari-sempai… why were you in there? What is that place?"


	17. Chapter16: A Living Reason

**Chapter16: A Living Reason**

**Early Morning**

"Morning Terin-san"

"Hmm?" Walking towards the gate, I was stopped by a familiar voice behind me.

"Oh hey, Keisuke was it?" I questioned.

"You remembered." He replied.

"Yeah, well. Vaguely." I answered back. "What's up?"

"Nothing, just saying hello."

"Are you feeling okay?" I asked.

"….no" and with that answer, Keisuke quickened his pace and walked ahead of me and soon entered the building.

"**What was that all about." **I thought while yawning. I did not have what people would say a good night's rest last night. I blamed the dream I had though. But I knew I did not have the answers to all the questions in my head so I decided to let things play out and see what happens.

"MORNING DUDE!" I felt an arm wrap itself around my shoulders and heave its weight on my back.

"Oh, morning Kazuki. Morning." I looked at Kaori as I said that.

"Morning Terin-kun" She replied.

"Heh... 'kun'? Since when did you two get so close to get called 'kun' by Kaocchi? Hmmm?" Kazuki questioned both of us.

"What is wrong with calling him that? He is our friend now is he not?" Kaori questioned.

"Did you know how long it took me to have 'kun' added to my name by Kaori, Joseph?" Kazuki whispered to me.

"Enlighten me."

"2 Years."

"And?"

"I'm now her boyfriend."

"Yes? And?" I questioned some more.

"What Did You Do To Her Joseph!" He started to violently shake me back and forth. "What Sort Of Witchcraft Stunt Did You Pull On-GYAAAAAA!" He stopped right there as Kaori was twisting Kazuki's ear at an unbelievable angle. This gave me the time to quell my throbbing head.

"What Are You Implying My Dear Kazuki?" Kaori asked with a venomous voice.

"Owww…." I massaged my head. It did not help that not only was my head already aching from my bad sleep but the violent wakeup call was causing by head to hurt even more. My vision was spinning.

"You okay?" Kaori asked me all the while still pulling Kazuki's ear.

"Yeah. I think…" _(OWWWW! LEGGO!)_

"Are you alright? You don't look so good." _(Kaocchi! Let Go Of My Ear!)_

"I did not have what you would call a good night's rest last night." _(Kaori! Seriously! Let Go Of My Ear!)_

"Bad Dream?" _(OwOwOwOwOwOwOwOwOw!)_

"Not sure…" At this point, Kaori released Kazuki's ear from her grasp.

"You should head to the nurse if you are not feeling well."

"I think I can manage on my own. But thanks for the advice."

"I think I need a nurse for my ear…" Kazuki pointed out.

"You asked for it." Kaori huffed at the statement.

"Why are you so cold to me?!" Kazuki wined.

"Because, I don't want to mother you every time."

"I think I will take my leave for now. See you two in class." I said and took my leave as the couple continued to quarrel, causing quite a commotion at the school entrance. Taking my books out of the locker, I proceeded to make my way towards my classroom when a voice called out to me.

"Terin-san." I looked in the direction of where the voice originated from.

"Oh. Fushimi. Morning."

"Morning to you too. Listen, are you okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you have been sick for a while and I was wondering if you could still cope with the studies here."

"I'm fine." **"I suppose".** I didn't have the heart to tell her that I had already learnt what we were learning right now. Various international schools have the tendency of learning different things in their syllabus and I was unfortunate to have to learn higher grade maths and science for my age so at the moment, the maths and science I learnt in this school was a walk in the park. I think the only exception would be Japanese history, I might fail that subject as a whole….

"I'm glad to hear that. I was worried that you might not be able to cope with the amount of work since you were absent." She replied.

"I'm fine. Thanks for the concern."

"Umm…."

"Yes?"

"….are…you….free?"

"Pardon?"

"Are….you….free during lunch today?" Chihiro asked.

"I suppose I am, why?"

"….could you possibly help me today? I….err….need to do something." She whispered.

"…I guess so?" it was more of a question than an answer.

"Okay. Err…see you at lunch then." Chihiro bowed politely before doing a 180 and running off.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Lunchtime<strong>

Lessons seemed to zoom by in the blink of the eye. Yukari, Junpei and Aigis left their classroom and headed to Fuuka's homeroom to pick her up and after that was done, they headed for the courtyard.

"Did you get anything Fuuka?" Yukari asked. Fuuka just shook her head.

"No. Nothing."

"This is so confusing! Every night we wait for it but it does not happen!" Junpei raged.

"I agree. This is actually quite troubling." Aigis replied. "The Dark Hour is supposed to appear every midnight without fail."

"But as we all agree, I don't think that is the case anymore…" Yukari replied.

"I tried to look up the man that attacked us at the station but I could not find anything. Whoever this person is, he covers his tracks well."

"It is just insane! How is it the Dark Hour functioning way before midnight. It is just so….WRONG!" Junpei asked.

"I don't think we know a lot about what is going on at the moment. For now, we need to be ready for when it appear again at any point in the day like before." Fuuka replied.

"That is the problem Fuuka. How can you be ready for something you can't predict will happen? The Dark Hour has not been active for five days."Aigis asked.

"…..I have no idea." Fuuka replied grimly.

"Well, let's just hope for the best and just pray it does not occur ever again though." Yukari replied.

"Pray Yukari? Since when were you the optimistic one?" Junpei questioned.

"But seriously, I hope it just does not magically appear as and when it wants to."

"As and when? You make it sound like a living entity now."

_**DING DONG**_

"Well. No point pursuing this now. Class calls." Junpei gave up as he walked back to the classrooms with Aigis and Yukari leaving Fuuka to find her own way back to her class.

"Fuuka-sempai!" a familiar voice ringed out.

"Oh, Terin-san." Fuuka turned to Joseph as he approached her.

"I was supposed to pass you this." He held out a letter in his hand. "Something from the Student Council."

"Ahh! So it has come back! Thank you Joseph." Fuuka replied as she took the letter from Joseph as he passed it to her.

"Something important?" Joseph asked.

"I guess you could say that….Listen, are you okay?" Fuuka questioned.

"Okay? I feel fine." Joseph replied.

"That is not what I meant, not physically I mean but more mentally, are you alright?"

"**For such a calm demeanour, sempai is pretty observant."** Joseph thought. "….No. Not at all." He finally replied.

"Did something happen?"

"I had this…what do you call it….a…..surreal dream last night. Felt different. Felt…..real."

"I'm sure you have been explained about what happens when a Persona is invoked for the first time."

"Don't remind me. Makes coping with it more painful for me."

"I guess the effects vary from person to person. Some experience nausea while others lapses into insomnia."

"I think I might be the latter…" Joseph.

"Listen. About the other day,"

"It's okay. I haven't…made up my mind yet though."

"It's not that. Yukari and the others might want you to join but personally." Fuuka looked around to see if her friends were in earshot and after confirming they were not, she answered back. "….I hope you don't."

"?"

"When we first found out our Persona abilities, Yukari was scared of what this ability would do. Junpei saw it as a form of entertainment. Akihiko-sempai saw it as a ray of redemption and Ken, his rage and anger taken form. I wanted to use my abilities to help and save my friends but even so, we still lost people dear to us. If you do find yourself accepting our offer please remember this, we have lost people to help us on this path. I just don't want to see any more losses of people dear to me. Especially friends."

"…I will bear that in mind." Joseph answered back after some time to which Fuuka gave him a smile happy she got her message across.

"….But I personally think you are wrong." Joseph then spoke up.

"?!"

"A question to ask you sempai, are you a religious person yourself?"

"No." Fuuka shook her head.

"Neither am I. But, I do believe that when we are born into this world, our life is written out in the stars by a higher power. Nothing that happens in life is a result of bad or good luck but because it is made to happen at that very instant depending on the choices we make. What really matters is that when you look back and unfold the events that happened, can you honestly tell yourself that when it mattered the most: Did you solve the problem to the best of your capabilities? If you did, hold your head high. Even if something did go wrong."

Fuuka was stunned. She had never seen the matter in this light before. She had wished to keep her junior from a fate that would speed up his date with death but here is this same junior, standing in front of her and lecturing her on how flawed and protective she was to him. For the first time in a long time;

She was speechless. No words came out of her mouth.

"It's almost time for afternoon classes." Joseph looked at his watch. "I've got to head back to the second floor. I'll see you during activity time sempai." He turned and left the speechless sempai looking at her junior leave her sight. Tears rolled down her cheeks. It was not tears of sadness neither happiness, She was tearing up due to confusion.

"Who Are You Joseph Emmanuel Terin?" She whispered finally.

_**DING DONG**_


	18. Chapter17: Love Me Or Die

**Chapter17: Love Me Or Die**

**Morning**

Mornings are usually the most dreaded part of a student's life, especially if the said student has to commute constantly to his or her destination every morning. The mundane routine continues for a long week until Sunday where there is a day break from the torture known as school. And today was Sunday.

"Awahhhh!" Joseph yawned as he got up from his bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He then look around his room through his still drowsy eyes and observed the light streaming through his half-closed window blinds.

"…morning already.." he commented to himself as he got up and headed for the bathroom. Taking a right from his room, he walked towards the opened door and opened it.

"Ahh! Morning Jose!" The chirpy voice that could only belong to the only other resident from the house called out to him.

"Mhhh. Morning." Joseph replied as he took out his toothbrush and started to brush his teeth.

"You know," his aunt continued. "The weather is perfect today so why don't you go out?"

"I will do that." Joseph replied.

"I'm sure you have friends now right?"

"Uh huh."

"You can invite them out yes?"

"Yeah."

"And I'm pretty sure that you have girls in that group of friends yes?"

"Yeah."

"That means plenty of ripe fruits for you to pluck from the tree!"

"Yup." Joseph answered without thinking.

"…You are just saying yes for the sake of it…"

"Yup"

"….Want to see me naked?" Teri asked.

"Yup." Joseph answered back as he continued to brush his teeth.

"…."

"…." _**"Wait. What?!"**_ At this moment, Joseph's brain started to function and he then realised that before he entered the toilet, he heard the noise of the shower go off and he still entered anyway. There were only two people who lived in the house too. So….

"_**Did I Just Say What I Said?! Wait, What Am I Doing Here In The First Place?!" **_Joseph looked at his refection in the mirror and saw his refection giving him the "Sudden Realisation + I Am Screwed + Why Did I Say That + WTH Brain!" look. Paralyzed, Joseph let go of the brush that was in his mouth and it fell into the basin with a soft clatter. At that moment, the shower had stopped running.

"Okay! Let this mature Onee-sama show you her curves!" Teri exclaimed as she reached for the door connecting the shower to the toilet. Joseph sensing danger for his life, made a mad dash back out of the toilet, slammed the door and ran back to the safe haven of his room.

* * *

><p>"Awww…You are so fun to tease!" Teri giggled as she took a bite out of the cake she had ordered.<p>

"Sh-Shut up." Joseph replied as he sipped his tea. She had brought Joseph to a place where she frequents for fancy breakfasts. It was a nice café around the corner of where they lived.

"But you know, you are at the age where you become aware of the changes in your body and I know boys like you have…..certain needs." Teri continued.

"Please. Enough." Joseph begged.

"Don't lie, you wanted to see it did you not?" She teased Joseph as she pointed her fork at him.

"….." Joseph took another sip out of his tea and averted his eyes away from his aunt.

"Your body language is failing you!" she teased again.

"You do know there is a limit to the teasing right?" Joseph questioned.

"As far as I am concerned, the line has not been breached." She chirped as she went back to her cake.

"_**This is one sadistic friend you got here mom…" **_Joseph mentally replied to himself.

"But seriously. Why don't you get yourself a girlfriend? You are good looking as it is. I'm sure there is no way anyone will say no." Teri questioned.

That was a touchy topic. Joseph reclined on his seat and closed his eyes as he took another sip of his tea.

"I just don't want a relationship." Joseph finally answered.

"That is no fun!" Teri pouted. "You should be out there enjoying the youth you have, not waste it!"

{Brip} a phone went off.

"Yours?" Teri asked as Joseph dug into his pockets and retrieved his phone.

"Yeah." Joseph answered the call. "Hello?"

"Morning Terin." A chirpy voice came from the receiving end.

"Kazuki!? How did you get my number?" Joseph replied confused.

"Man's got to have his secrets! Where are you at?" Kazuki asked.

"Having breakfast. Why."

"Come down to Port Island Station! We are going to have a field day!" Kazuki yelled into the phone before the line was cut.

"Port Island Station, interesting venue for a meet." Teri said as she finished her cake. "You should go. Your mom will get worried if all you do is study all day. Hang out with your friends for a bit."

"I thought that is what all parents want their kids to do?" Joseph replied as he grabbed his bag. "Thanks for the meal."

"Not a problem." Teri replied as Joseph exited the café.

* * *

><p><span><strong>An Hour Later<strong>

"Hey! There he is. HEY! OVER HERE!" Kazuki cried out to Joseph as he exited the station. Kazuki was with a group of friends and there were familiar faces from their class together with them. This included Kaori and Keisuke

"Kazuki, Kaori, Keisuke. Morning." Joseph called out as he walked towards the group.

"Morning." they replied.

"So what's up with the call?"

"It is that time of the year!" Kazuki cried out.

"Care to explain?" Joseph questioned.

"Well," Kaori started. "Every year we have transfer students coming in to Gekkoukan every semester."

"And when that happens, it is tradition to hold a form of welcoming party for the student." Keisuke finished.

"So you are throwing a party for me? A little bit late don't you think?" Joseph questioned again.

"You're not the only one." Kazuki explained as he slung his hand around my shoulders and walked me towards the group. "We have also brought along the OTHER transfer students from the various classes." I looked at the group that they brought in and true enough, there were some foreign exotic students in the crowd.

"Mind you," Kazuki whispered in my ear. "That blond chick there is quite a hot number." He indicated at the said girl. "Ten Thousand yen says you will hook up with her."

"….." Giving Kazuki the "_Really?_" look, Joseph unhooked Kazuki's hand from his shoulder. "So what are we doing?" Joseph asked.

"A movie marathon." Keisuke answered.

"Not just any movie marathon," Kazuki said. "a HORROR movie marathon!" he exclaimed.

Joseph's heart skipped a beat. "Say that again?"

"A horror movie marathon!" Kazuki replied with excited vigour.

This time, Joseph's heart had literally stopped beating.

"Ahh. The door opens, the main character and his girlfriend walking into a deserted section of an ancient asylum. All of a sudden, the girl starts to hear voices from the walls…." Kazuki continued to blabber on but Joseph was not listening. In fact, he just had a mental shutdown. Of all the things that he had to watch….

"**HORROR! How unlucky can one guy get in one day?!"**

"…..and then the girl beside you screams and hugs you for protection from something that can't hurt you! Is that not the best setting for a date?!" Kazuki cried out as he brought Joseph out from the dark regions of his mind by slapping him on his back.

"GAH! Hey! Don't do that!" Joseph cried out.

"C'mon, is this not the best?" Kazuki asked.

"Errrr…yeah." Joseph reluctantly answered.

"Great. I'm going to get tickets!" Kazuki rushed to the ticket booth. "This is going to be so much fun!" Joseph stayed rooted to the spot and hung his head in despair. 80% of his body was opting for the "flight" part of human natures reaction to danger.

"You don't look to happy." Kaori approached Joseph.

"I'm fine." Joseph quickly answered.

"You sure?" she asked concerned.

"Yeah." He replied.

"**I hope…."**

* * *

><p><span><strong>2 MOVIES LATER<strong>

"….Seriously…" Kazuki looked at Joseph in dismay. Joseph was in an extremely sorry state, he was slouched against the bench outside the cinema lifeless.

"I had you pegged as the dude who loves these kinds of things, guess I was wrong." Kazuki said disappointed.

"Next time, ask everyone what they want to do before you go deciding what YOU want to do!" Kaori exclaimed. "My God! How can you be so insensitive?!"

"All guys love Horror movies!" Kazuki protested but all Kaori did was point at Joseph who still was lifeless.

"…Hahhhhhh…." Joseph finally spoke.

"Fine…But what am I to do with these tickets now? We all still have 2 more movies to catch."

"No choice, go refund them." Kaori said. "I don't think Terin can survive another movie."

The couple headed back into the crowd leaving Joseph alone to revitalise himself from the movies.

"**I feel sick…." **thought Joseph. All of a sudden, a hand holding a canned drink was held in front of him. Joseph looked up to see an auburn hair girl looking down at him.

"I think this will cheer you up!" she said with a grin, handing over the can to Joseph and promptly sitting down next to him on the bench and opening the other can in her hand.

"You are one scary guy you know that?" she said.

"What do you mean?" Joseph questioned.

"You hate horror movies but there you sit through not one but TWO of those movies head on." She stopped to take a gulp out of her drink before continuing. "That takes a lot of balls."

"….It is a party after all." Joseph replied. "Wouldn't it be disrespectful to not go with the flow of the host's plans?"

"Like I said: You got balls. But you are surprisingly quite an airheaded guy." The girl exclaimed.

"What?" Joseph questioned.

"You are with friends. It's okay for one to object in doing something one does not like. People wouldn't think any different of you." She replied as she then faced him and held out her hand smiling.

"I'm Hamuko Minako! What is yours?"

"Joseph, Joseph Emmanuel Terin." he replied and accepted the handshake

"Egh. What a mouthful for a name."

"You're not the first to say that."

"Hey! Drink that! You will feel better. Trust me." Hamuko replied as she gestured at the unopened drink in my hand. Opening it, Joseph took a gulp of the drink and let the contents of the can flow down his throat.

"Coffee?" Joseph replied surprised.

"Nothing beats coffee to soothe one's nerves down!" Hamuko exclaimed as she took another swing of the drink from her can.

"**She's got a point, I do feel better. Although slightly…"**

"Are you sure it's fine?" Joseph questioned.

"Hmmm?"

"To object when I hate something."

"Of Course!"

"Then I object: I hate coffee." Joseph said. Hamuko looked at him for a full four seconds before laughing.

"You are one strange guy you know that?" Hamuko replied as she wiped the tears out of her eyes. "Hey! Mikalia! Over here!" she cried out as she spotted her friend in the distance. The blond girl in the distance that Joseph recognised as the same blond Kazuki pointed out earlier today was walking towards them or more specifically, Hamuko.

"Hey! Have you met Terin here yet?" Hamuko questioned. "He is like us, just transferred in." to which the blond smiled at me.

"Terin, this gorgeous beauty here is Samantha Mikalia." Hamuko introduced before looking at Samantha. "Mikalia, This is Joseph Emma….Enma….Anma…."

"Joseph Terin. You can skip my middle name." Joseph stepped in to prevent Hamuko from looking like a fool. The Japanese sometimes have a problem pronouncing English names. Especially the long ones like Joseph's case.

"Nice to meet you." Samantha replied. Although bad, Samantha's Japanese was spot on but the accent of her voice was familiar….

"Pardon me but you're from Yorkshire are you not?" Joseph questioned Samantha in English to which her eyes lit up.

"You speak English?" she also replied in English.

"I come from an English speaking family." Joseph answered.

"Where are you from?" Samantha asked.

"Passport says Britain. But I'm originally from Singapore."

"Which part of the UK?!" she asked with more fervor.

"Can't say for sure. I move around a lot. I think we have a place down in London though…" Joseph scratched his head.

"Have you ever been to Yorkshire?"

"Once, when I was se-"Joseph started.

"HEY! Speak In Japanese!" Hamuko exclaimed as she pouted from being left out of the conversation.

"Ah, sorry." Joseph apologised in Japanese.

"Sorry." Samantha did the same.

"Hey Dude!" Kazuki's voice came from behind Samantha as she moved aside to look at who the voice belonged to.

"Got those refunds! Dude! If you hated horror, why did you not object?! We could all have settled for the comedy mar-" Kazuki stopped mid-sentence when he saw Joseph surrounded by two beautiful ladies to which all Kazuki could do was stand there dumbfolded.

"Something on your mind?" Joseph asked as he took another swig of coffee from his can.

Kazuki finally broke out of his trance. Coughing, he made a dash for Joseph and yanked him off the bench.

"HEY!WHA-" Joseph protested but Kazuki slung his hand around Joseph's shoulder.

"So that is what it is like huh?!" Kazuki whispered furious.

"What is what?" Joseph asked worried.

"I leave you alone for five minutes and I come back to see you surrounded by beauties. So, what is the secret?! Give me the dirt."

"Huh?" Joseph replied puzzled.

"The Secret! How is it you attract girls to you when you do nothing to catch their attention? Why is it also these girls are-" Kazuki took a moment to glimpse back at Hamuko and Samantha who were looking at the two of them curious. "-hot chicks!"

"….." embarrassed, Joseph took another swig of coffee. He did not notice it then but the girls he was talking to were the definition of eye candy. It started to dawn on him why Kazuki was furious and now that he was more observant, the other boys who were in the group with them were giving Joseph hostile eyes.

"This is totally UNEXCEPTABLE!" Kazuki raised his voice. "Why Are You Attracting Such Beauties while I'm Stuck With Kaori!"

"Ohhhhh. I'm not good enough for you is that it?" Kaori's venomous voice came from behind Kazuki to which Joseph felt the goosebumps on Kazuki's arm. Turning back, both boys were looking at a calm but extremely pissed off girlfriend. If the hostility could be represented in a picture, it was like looking at a badly scarred-faced tiger walking out of an inferno in proud, slow steps. Even though the anger was not directed at him, just looking at Kaori sent shivers up Joseph's spine. He dislodged Kazuki's arm off his shoulders and left Kazuki to his fate as he walked back to the bench where the girls were waiting.

"Your friend?" Hamuko asked eyeing the couple.

"Yeah. Both of them." Joseph answered as all three of them saw Kaori give Kazuki a painfully, devastating ear twist that made Joseph wince in pain from looking at it.

"I need the toilet." Joseph exclaimed. "Where is it?"

"I think there is one over there." Hamuko pointed in the general direction.

* * *

><p><span><strong>ELSEWHERE<strong>

"Why…..WHY! EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" The girl cried out.

"Why? Why You Ask?! That is because he told me." The other girl replied.

"No. That is impossible. He is dating me!" The first girl cried out.

"Then how do you explain the missing calls, the last minute change of dates, the avoidance in school?" The second girl asked.

"That is because he is busy!" The first girl protested.

"Busy? Is that what he said to you?" The second girl held her hand to her forehead and shook her head in dismay. "I think we should make it clear then. Hey," She called out into the alley. "C'mon out." To which after the male in question came out of the alley.

"!?"

"Tell her now. It is you're only chance." the second girl replied grimly.

"What she said is true…" the boy replied. "I…like sempai more than you." The first girl was utterly in shock from what she heard.

"I confessed to her recently." The boy slowly continued. "She said yes and so I…..started to date her. I'm sorry, it's over between us." The boy concluded as he turned away from his former girlfriend and walked away. The second girl looked at her friend with the same grim look on her face. Sad that no girl should experience what her friend was going through at the moment.

"no…..no.." The first girl whispered as she fell to her knees and started to tear up.

"No….why…." she lamented. "We were…perfect…together." She looked up and saw her friend turn and walk in the general direction where her ex walked.

"no…..come back." She cried out weakly to which none of them answered back.

"Come Back Here!" she cried out, choking on her voice. "Come Back And Love Me…" a sentence which was not answered by both her ex and friend.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed out loud. All of a sudden, the atmosphere in the alley changed. The sky turned dark and green with blood oozing out of the walls. The boy and the second girl stopped and looked at the fallen girl.

"_**You dare walk away from me after what we have been through!?" **_an eerie voice resounded from the girl. _**"You dare tell me that after all that time, you find another girl!?"**_ the first girl rose to her feet but kept her head facing downwards. The boy and the second girl were frighten by the look of the girl.

"_**No, it was never meant to be like this. It was supposed to be perfect! You Love Me!"**_ the girl screeched in a voice akin to that of a siren and started to convulse and summon an ethereal being behind her. A big creature resembling what appears to be the cross-breed of a spider and a woman.

"_**LOVE ME OR DIE!" **_the first girl screeched as she willed the ethereal being to charge at the boy and the second girl who screamed out of shear fright and made a break for it but the girl was not so lucky and got caught by the ethereal being's arm and hoisted up into the air.

"_**Now then, what shall I do with you I wonder?" **_the first girl pondered as the ghostly being dragged the second girl back to its owner.

"Please! I beg you, stop this." The second girl cried out in tears.

"_**Stop? Ohhhhh. You want me to stop yes?" **_the first girl joked._** "What happened to stopping him when he was confessing to sempai huh? What Happened To Stopping Them On Their Dates?! Where Was The 'Stopping' When That Happened?!" **_every time she started a sentence, the grip on the second girl was getting tighter and tighter.

"Please…." The second girl replied weakly.

"_**Let me think…" **_the first girl pondered out loud.

"_**NO. Kill Her." **_To which the ethereal being obliged and tightened its grip on the second girl to which she screamed from the crushing pain.

"_**This is the fate of 'friends' like you. After you are done for, he is going next!" **_she replied over the screams and stared down at the alley where her ex ran off to.

"…**Am I going to die?" **the second girl thought as she lost consciousness.

"Tempest Slash!" a voice cried out of nowhere and the ethereal being's arms that held the girl was cut off. The being howled in pain as it stumbled backwards away from its assailant. The first girl spun around to stare at the new adversary as he stood a distance away from her with Thanatos behind him.

"I made it in time." Joseph heaved a sigh of relief.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Authors Notes:<strong>**  
><strong>

**Sorry! Haven't uploaded a chapter in months. Hope you enjoy this chapter. This is Josephs second battle after the fight in the Mall! OHHHHH!**

**As always, keep the comments coming. Love to hear from all of my story fans out there. Keep reading ;)**


	19. Chapter18: Sinful Lust

**Chapter18: Sinful Lust**

* * *

><p>"Who are YOU?!" the girl shrieked at her adversary.<p>

"An interested third party." Joseph sternly replied as he calmly walked towards his potential opponent. The girl's motioned her creature back into stance.

"Kill Him!" she commanded as the creature extended its remaining forearms at Joseph.

"Thanatos!" Joseph commanded as he summoned and crushed the card in his hand, materialising Thanatos who proceeded to protect his owner. Slicing two more limbs from the creature who reared back howling in pain.

"You pathetic fool! What are you doing?! Get that bastard!" The girl scolded the monster. Facing Joseph again, it opened its giant mouth exposing a gapping maw and screamed at him in a high pitched voice.

"GAHHH!" Joseph cried out as he covered his ears. The high pitched screech was making him lose his focus.

"Tha-Thanatos!" Joseph weakly cried out. "Stop that noise!" The Persona obliged as it sail towards the creature, who immediately implanted Thanatos to the ground using its massive size and proceeded to pummel the Persona with its remaining hands.

"**Christ!" **Joseph thought as he fell to his knees at the pain. Stopping a nearby rock, he picked it up and flung it at the girl which impacted her on her head in the hopes it would distract her.

"You Bastard!" she cried out. "I'm going to-" she stopped mid-sentence as she realised the red liquid oozing down her forehead from the wound she sustained from the rocks impact. Using this delay, Thanatos pushed the creature from on top of it causing it to crash into the wall just behind the now petrified girl.

"B-B-Bl" she whimpered in disbelief. "Bl-Bl-Bl-Blood?" she touched her forehead where the cool liquid was flowing down her face and examined the evidence.

"…..Blood." she finally said in a dangerously calm tone.

"?!" Joseph took a step back just for safety sake.

"You made me bleed…." The girl continued to talk as she started walking towards Joseph. Joseph in turn tried to walk back but realized he could not. His body suddenly became rigid and refused to budge.

"**What the Hell?!" **cold sweat started to appear on his forehead as the girl progressed ever closer to him. Time seemed to stop for these mere few seconds.

"**Move Dammit!" **

"You made me bleed…." She continued. "You defiled me…. You made me ugly…."

"**F*ing Hell, Move!" **Joseph screamed at his body and that was when he realized. He had been moving all this time, he looked down and saw what was keeping him still.

"**Threads?!" **Joseph looked around and saw the minuscule, thin treads of white stuck to his clothes shining in the green glow of the environment.

"Ugly….Ugly." Joseph bent down and desperately tried to wriggle free of the thin binds that held him.

"**What is with this thread?! The more I struggle, the harder it gets!"**

"…..you will pay." The girl finally said as she now closed in on Joseph such that she was face to face with him. Fear struck Joseph as he looked at the girl and noticed the transparent eyes that were staring him in the face.

"Jorōgumo." The girl said calmly as she snapped her fingers and out of the rubble came not a giant monster but a slender shrine maiden gliding out of the dust.

"Play for us a song fit for his requiem." The girl replied. Obliging, the maiden produced out of nowhere, a lute and started playing a soothing tune. In a heartbeat, Joseph felt giddy and out of breath.

"Wh….Wha…" he groggily moaned as he failed to string a proper word and his legs buckled but was suspended and propped back up by the invisible strings. The girl used her two fingers and lifted his head.

"On closer inspection, you look pretty cute under all that emo shag of a hair." She said as she inspected him. Joseph looked up at the girl trying his best not to fall unconscious.

"I've decided. You will be my slave." She concluded as she brought him close and kissed him on the lips.

"**!?" **But before he could protest, Joseph's vision blurred and he started to pass out.

"Don't worry." The girl replied. "You wouldn't feel a thing. Come morning, you will be as obedient as a dog." A sickly smile appeared on her face as the world around Joseph became distorted and faded into blackness.

* * *

><p>"….wake up…..wake up…"<p>

"Muuu?" Joseph opened his eyes as he heard a voice calling him from his slumber. Opening his eyes, he looked around the room. The room he was currently in had a high sloped ceiling room with a roof window attached at the top. The content of the interior however was that of a multi-levelled room with the bed Joseph was lying on the tallest floor with a small curved staircase leading to the bottom.

"**I recognise this place."** Joseph looked around as he felt nostalgic. **"This was my room back in the States…"** he let himself get absorbed by his nostalgia before he came face to face with a familiar face.

"Morning." She chirped. Joseph started to have a slight panic attack and fell off the bed.

"….Wha….What?!" he sat on the ground and pointed at the said person.

"Did you have a good rest?" she asked as she lifted off her covers and plopped herself at his side. All Joseph could do however was point and blubber.

"….How?"

"Breakfast will be served in a while. Wait for it." The girl smiled cheekily as she pecked him on the cheek and proceeded towards the door.

Joseph, Dumb folded, picked himself off the floor and proceeded to go about his morning day routine. On coming down, he saw the spread of food on the table and the girl in an apron welcoming him.

"Breakfast is ready!" She chirped out as she gestured to the food on the table with both her hands.

"Oh…Okay." Joseph replied weakly as he sat down on one side of the table as the girl sat on the other hand of the other end facing him.

"Let's Eat!" she replied as she picked up her utensils and dug in. Joseph mechanically did the same.

"**What is going on?! I don't remember sleeping. I-What am I doing back in the States? I remember….Japan? What about Japan? What was I doing in Japan? I don't….I can't remember. But know I was awake moments ago. What was I doing then? I…..I don't know…Kazuki? Who is Kazuki? Should I know this Kazuki? Then….Yukari-sempai? Who are these people?! And did I just call one Sempai? I feel they are important but I do-"**

"What is the matter? You look scary?" The girl in front of Joseph was looking at him.

"Huh?! Oh! Errr…..nothing." Joseph hastily replied to her as he proceeded to start on his meal.

"I'm digging in then." He replied with a small smile on his face.

"Okay!" the girl smiled.

"….Are you sure you should be doing that?" A voice from behind Joseph called out softly.

"!?, Who's There!" Joseph turned around and came face to face with a woman dressed in a white, tunic robe sitting on the nearby windowsill holding a feather quill and writing down in a large tome.

"Who are you?" Joseph demanded. The woman stopped writing on the tome, closing it, she place it on her lap and leaned forward so that she was supporting her head using the palm of her hand.

"I should be asking you that question. What are you doing?" She replied.

"I think you should leave." Joseph demanded the woman.

"I don't think so." the woman replied adamant on her decision to stay where she was.

"If you are not going to leave, I'm going to have to remove you by force."

"Oh." The robed woman sarcastically sounded frightened. "You and who?"

"Me and Jessica over her-!?" realization sunk into Joseph consciousness as he registered what he had just said.

"….Bingo." The robed woman finally gave a genuine smile at the shocked male in front of her.

"Bu-But that's.." Joseph turned around slowly as he looked at the girl that was sitting at the table who in turn tilted her head giving him a confused look.

"…Not possible."

"In fact, it isn't." the robed woman replied Joseph. "So let me ask you again: What are you doing?"

"But, she is…" Joseph continued to mutter dumb struck.

"Yup." The woman just said.

"How did…"

"Joseph?" the girl just questioned as she got up from her seat and walked towards Joseph but Joseph backed away from the girl with every step.

"Jessica…" Joseph muttered weakly as he looked at the face of the girl as she walked up to him.

"Joseph?" the girl asked again as she raised her hand, reaching for Joseph's cheek.

"Jessica." Joseph rushed forward to embrace the girl but as soon as he embraced her, she vanished into the shadows.

"Wha-!" The surrounding walls of the place then collapsed as the scenery started to decay and change into darkness. Joseph turned around to see the robed woman seated at the windowsill stand up, tome in hand and quill in the other.

"I think you need a reality check." She replied as she walked backwards towards the darkness.

"Wait!" Joseph chased after the woman as she disappeared into the darkness. As he passed where the woman was just standing moments ago however, the scenery changed. He was standing on a large open field surrounded by many people. They were all dressed in black and looked solemn. At that point Joseph knew where he was. He pushed through the crowd and made his way to the front. Upon arrival, he saw his known acquaintances and another familiar face from his past.

"Terrence…" Joseph muttered. As if the wind carried his words, the male in question heard Joseph's call and looked up with tears in his eyes.

"You…BASTARD!" Terrence walked up to Joseph and grabbed him by his collar. A look of uncontrollable anger registered on his face as he pushed him away from him.

"YOU NEVER SHOULD HAVE COME HERE!" Terrence shouted out in rage as he swung back and punched Joseph in the face. Joseph reeled from the impact as he felt the pain surge through his body. Grabbing him again, Terrence propped Joseph back upright for another hit. Out of the corner of Joseph's vision however, from the sea of black, an out of place white set of robes belonging to the tome-wielding woman was spotted by him. She looked at Joseph and their eyes met and opening her lips;

"_**Remember"**_

{SMACK} another fist impacted on the other side of Joseph's face but this time, as he reeled, Joseph caught a glimpse of something else other than an open field. A vision of an alley way covered in blood appeared before him in that split second.

"_**Remember"**_

{SMACK} Yet another hit. The vision of the alley way became clearer and more vivid.

"_**Remember"**_

"**…..That's right…" **Joseph finally recalled.

{SMACK} Every hit made the vision clearer

"_**Remember"**_

"**I was fighting…"**

{SMACK}

"_**Remember"**_

Joseph started to feel something building up in him upon realization. Something uncontrollable.

A feeling of anger.

{SMACK} hit after hit made the anger in Joseph manifest itself slowly into a terminal state until at last, Joseph had it. At the next swing, Joseph dodged it and at the same time, swung back and in an instant, swung his fist at Terrence's face with all his might.

"_**REMEMBER"**_

* * *

><p>"ARRRRRRGGGGGG!" Joseph broke free of the illusion and the binds that held him in a fit of uncontrollable rage.<p>

"IM-Impossible! How?!" the girl replied in shock as she quickly backed away. Joseph quickly raised his hand and smashed the tarot card that materialised in his hand.

"THANATOS!" he yelled out as the being came into form and charged at the girl.

"JO-JORŌ-" but before she could command the creature however, Thanatos charged and smashed into the shrine maiden at her side, sending the both of them smashing into a wall.

"You. Made. One. Terrible. Mistake." Joseph deliberately said these words. At the same time, every word was denounced by the sick slash of Thanatos' blade on skin as it was hacking away at the shrine maiden creature.

"JORŌGUMO!" the girl finally screamed as the creature changed back to its grotesque form but even so, the way Thanatos was fervently hacking away at it with such ferocity, the creature had no way of fighting back. With every attack, the creature screamed in agony and so did it's owner as she buckled under the pain.

"You could have gutted me, cut my limbs off, and left me for dead in a stinking alley but no. You had to show me the one thing I regret; the one person I left; the one person who defined me; THE GODDAMN ONE PERSON WHO MADE ME WHO I AM TODAY!" Joseph screamed out as rage took over his usual calm demeanour.

All the girl could do was cower in fear of what she unleashed. She backed herself into a wall as she saw a male striding up to her and in the background; Thanatos was holding the bloody mess of her familiar by its neck.

"….Please…don't…" she whimpered.

"….Finish it." Joseph commanded Thanatos as it obliged by crushing the windpipe of the creature, effectively killing it. The girl screamed out in agony as the pain inflicted on the creature coursed through her body. Finally unable to cope with the pain, the girl started to faint.

"….You had to show me her…" Joseph silently said as the girl lost consciousness. The world around him slowly faded from its darkness into the brightness of an early afternoon.

"You had to show me **Jessica Consensio**…"


	20. Chapter19: Unexpected Arrival

**Chapter19****: Unexpected Arrival**

**Airport (Same Day)**

"…she's late." Akihiko muttered as he leaned against the nearby pillar for support. A few days ago, he had called Mitsuru and updated her about the situation happening in Port Island after the chat with Joseph and Kaori. Mitsuru replied that due to business, she had her hands full but she assured Akihiko that she would make the issue a top priority and would come down as soon as possible.

"You think she forgot?" Junpei asked as he looked around the hall.

"Impossible. She isn't that forgetful that she would 'miss' a flight; unlike you." Yukari huffed as she went back to the Shonen Leap magazine she had in her hands.

"Hey! I would remember something that important okay." Junpei rebuked. Akihiko was accompanied by Junpei and Yukari to meet Mitsuru and all three of them were waiting at the arrival hall for her arrival.

"She wouldn't have been stuck at arrival do you think?" Yukari asked.

"No, she inherited her own private plane from her late father. It should be a breeze through arrivals for her." Akihiko replied.

"Woah! How do you know something like that?" Junpei asked.

"When you are a multi-millionaire, things like private jets are the norm aren't they?" Yukari replied.

"When you put it like that then I guess so.." Junpei scratched his head.

"Look. There she is!" Akihiko said as he pushed away from the pillar as he saw her. Looking as if she hasn't aged a single bit, the magnificent red hair beauty strode out of the gates catching the eyes of the males around the hall.

"Sempai!" Yukari shouted as she waved her hands at the beauty.

"Hey!" Junpei shouted with Akihiko behind him smiling at Mitsuru who in turn returned the smile and walked towards them.

"It's been too long." Mitsuru replied as she hugged her friends and comrades.

"You don't look like you have aged." Yukari smiled at her senior.

"You all haven't changed one bit." Mitsuru replied as she looked at the three of them before her eyes then settled on Junpei who just grinned at her.

"You must be tired from the flight. I hope America wasn't hard on you." Akihiko replied as he picked up Mitsuru's luggage.

"It wasn't the country, it's the people I work with."

"You got us any souvenirs?" Junpei asked hopefully.

"In fact, I did." Mitsuru smiled at her junior as she said it.

"Don't spoil Junpei so much sempai, it will go to his head." Yukari added the sentence in as an afterthought.

"Hey!" Junepi replied shocked but Mitsuru just chuckled.

"It's alright. It's only fair that I bring back little trinkets for you all. It's my fault for not keeping in contact with you all since business has been keeping me busy. Think of it as my way of saying sorry." Mitsuru replied.

"When you say it like that, it makes me feel worse that I'm accepting these gifts." Yukari replied.

"Don't be."

"Did the corporation approve of the leave?" Akihiko asked.

"Yes, I told the R&D department of the severity of the situation and they pushed the other departments to let me go."

"They must have approved since you are here."

"Quite reluctantly I might add. The Corporation just started to get back on his feet since the demise of my late father. I guess they were hoping to do it a little quicker than I expected."

"Must be hard…." Yukari muttered.

"Hard to what?" asked Mitsuru.

"To run the entire company all on your own." Yukari replied.

"…..It is." Mitsuru just said.

"Okay, enough chatter." Akihiko broke the monotony. "Let's get Mitsuru to the hotel first then talk okay?"

"That I can agree on." Mitsuru replied. The four continued to chat as they walked towards the exit passing people on the way.

"...Where do you think you're going?" a mysterious voice replied.

"**?!"**

All of a sudden, the scenery of the arrival hall changed. The bright halls were replaced with the dull green of the dark hour with red blood seeping out of the walls and replacing the water in the various small fountains around the area. The people around them were transmogrified into coffins and the entire hall turned silent in the blink of an eye.

"Dark Hour?!" Mitsuru was taken aback.

"Not quite." Akikiko replied as he donned his fighting gloves.

"EVOKERS!" he shouted out to which everyone obliged. Whipping them out, they prepared for a battle. What shocked them was the clapping of hands. Slowly emerging from the nearest pillar in front of them, the person continued to clap his hands as he approached the four of them. Three of them however, recognised him.

"You!" Junpei was the first to reply.

"I'm glad you remember me." Sejun replied as he continued to slowly clap his hands as he now stood, a distance away, in front of them on an inclined slope they were currently on with him at the top. "Although," Sejun continued. "I remember you all to be less….alive the last time we meet." He replied to the trio.

"Grrrrrr…" Junpei growled. His fist clenched into a ball.

"Easy there." Yukari calmed him down.

"Mitsuru Kirijo." Sejun then continued as he finally stopped the clapping. "Heiress to the Kirijo Corporation, former student of Gekkoukan High School, a real sexy beauty…" Mitsuru flinched at the mention of her charms.

"What do you want?" Mitsuru asked as she stepped forward to face her opponent.

"A little whisper in the air told me that you would be here today." Sejun replied as he looked at her. "You will come with me love."

"And if I refuse?" she challenged. All of a sudden, strings of cloth shot out from behind the four of them, snatching the evokers out of Junpei and Yukari's hands and narrowly missed Akihiko's. But Akihiko was quick as he placed his evoker to his head.

"CAESER!"

{BANG}

The Persona appeared and using its sword, cut the cloth strings that held the evokers and along with several others. The strings then retreated back to its owner which was floating above a hooded female standing behind them a ways away.

"I'm so glad you felt that way!" Sejun replied after the quick assault. "You are just like the rumours said you are. Headstrong, cold, calculative and willing. All to a grievous fault I might add when it comes to your….friends." Sejun replied disgusted. "I like you."

"We are not handing her over!" Akihiko injected.

"Oh the opposite actually mister 'Rocks For Brains', the emphasis is on the word 'Will'. She WILL come with us. Seriously, did you pass Japanese at all when you were in school?" Akihiko did not bother to reply as he placed the evoker to his head.

"PERSONA!" Ceaser materialised yet again and went charging at Sejun. Sejun in turn produced Charon and stopped the advance.

"I guess we will do it by force then." Sejun cockily replied. "D, Strut your stuff." He calmly said to the hooded female at the bottom of the ramp.

"….Okay." D muttered as she re-summoned the ethereal being and rushed forward up the ramp at the group.

"Junpei!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Yukari and Junpei raised their evokers to their head.

"ISIS!"

"TRISMEGISTUS!" the Persona's materialised and charged at its adversary. The opponents Persona materialised the same ribbons it used in its previous attack.

"You are not getting away!" Junpei shouted as Trismegistus approached the assailant. Raising his arm, he commanded the Persona

"Agidyne!" burning through the ribbons easily, Trismegistus charged forward with ease. A flick of the finger from D however caused even more ribbons to emerge from the ground and immobilise the Persona.

"Magarudyne!" Pillars of tornados appeared and ripped the ribbons to shreds. But even in the onslaught, the assailant did not back down. Flicking her index and middle fingers at Isis, the remaining ribbons moulded to become a stake and hurled itself at the unsuspecting Persona.

"AHH!" Yukari gripped her shoulder in pain as the ribbons pierced Isis.

"Yukari!" Junpei momentarily lost his focus on the enemy which was the opening D needed.

"Lyssa…" she muttered. The creature launched a gust of wind which knocked Junpei off his feet, landing next to Yukari.

"It's done…" folding her body in a dramatic motion, D then motioned upwards and out of the creatures back shot four to six ribbon serpents who, like a predator, hurled themselves at the two grounded Persona wielders who could only cower in the fear of certain death. As if on cue, the temperature around the room dropped which could only lead to one thing. The ribbon serpents froze on the spot as its body turned rigid from frostbite and in an instant, shattered into tiny bits.

"Sempai!" Yukari and Junpei heaved a sigh of relief as they knew who had saved them. Walking in front of them like a protector, Mitsuru held the evoker to her head in battle stance.

"If you want them, take me out first!" she warned D as she pulled the trigger.

"Artemisia!" The Persona emerged and smacked its whip on the ground, as if daring the creature in front of it to make the next move.

"….My opponent….is not you…" D whispered as she summoned more ribbons in an attempt to intimidate Mitsuru but the redhead remained undaunted at the sight of it. Shooting them out, the ribbons were easily frozen and stopped by Artemisia whose freezing capabilities were on a different scale compared to Lyssa. On the other hand, on top of the ramp, the heated battle between Akihiko and Sejun came down to a brilliant lightshow display as electricity and fire danced around them as they stood toe to toe with each other.

"Ziodyne!"

"Flaniuo!" the calling of elements caused a brilliant explosion as the techniques combined. Stepping back, Akihiko advanced towards his opponent and threw punches which were easily dodged by Sejun. Grabbing Akihiko's outstretched arm, Sejun applied a lock technique on Akihiko immobilising the boxer. With his free arm, Akihiko pointed his evoker to his head and summoned Caesar who swung its massive sword down at Sejun, who released the lock and jumped out of harm's way.

"Feisty!" Sejun gleefully replied as he grinned.

"More where that came from!" Akihiko shouted as he continued the onslaught of assaults in Sejun's direction. As if predicting what he was doing, Sejun motioned Charon to intercept the attacking Caesar, who stumbled from the surprise blow. Motioning upwards, Charon used its spear-like weapon and launched an uppercut on Caesar who was sent flying in the sky, together with Akihiko, and landing with a loud crash.

"Time for the curtain call. Charon!" Obeying its master, the creature then let out a cry of anguish and summoned a multitude of flaming orbs and launched them in Akihiko's direction but it was intercepted by a new challenger. Trismegistus had arrived just in time to stop the attack from connecting.

"Fight fire with fire!" Junpei shouted out at Sejun as he helped Akihiko back on his feet.

"You okay?" Junpei asked.

"Have been hit worse." Akihiko shrugged it off. Positioning themselves side by side, both Akihiko and Junpei sized up Sejun.

"It's two against one now! What's next?" Akihiko faced Sejun together with Junpei. But Sejun just heaved a sign of dismay.

"This is not going according to plan…." He muttered as he looked dejected. "D! We're pulling out!" he shouted at his accomplice.

"…roger.." she replied as she leaped back from the onslaught brought forth by Yukari and Mitsuru.

"Awfully sorry, but this meeting has unfortunately come to a premature end." He replied to the SEES members as he revealed a bunch of canisters in his hand and threw them at their feet, bursting out columns of smoke as they did.

"Smoke grenades?!" Junpei yelled out as his and the other members were caught in the smoke.

"Get..back…here!" Akihiko shouted out as he fought through the smoke and out into the open but Sejun was nowhere to be seen. As the smoke cleared, the rest of them meet up with Akihiko at the top of the slope.

"Lost him…" he replied gritting his teeth as he said that. The four of them stood still as they tried to wrap their heads around what had occurred. All of a sudden, they heard the chime of a bell tower somewhere in the distance.

"**!?"**

Three times the bell chimed and in a flash, the dark, green atmosphere of the hall disappeared and the airport was bustling with activity. The SEES members did not utter a single word out of fear that what they heard was either real or a figment of their imagination.


End file.
